


Until My Last Page

by Justcallmefox



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Sex, Angst, Anxiety, Awkward Eren Yeager, Awkward First Times, Awkward Flirting, Background Relationships, Badass Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Baker Eren Yeager, Bruises, College Student Eren Yeager, Consensual Sex, Drinking, Eren Yeager Has Heterochromia Iridum, Eventual Levi/Eren Yeager, Eventual Smut, Fighting, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Injury, Kenny Ackerman Being an Asshole, Levi Smokes (Shingeki no Kyojin), M/M, Mental Breakdown, Mikasa Ackerman & Eren Yeager Are Siblings, Minor Character Death, Minor Furlan Church/Isabel Magnolia, Minor Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Minor Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein, Overprotective Mikasa Ackerman, POV Eren Yeager, POV First Person, POV Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Photographer Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Play Fighting, Protective Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), References to Books, References to Depression, References to Hamlet, References to Shakespeare, References to songs, Road Trips, Romance, Running Away, Scars, Scratching, Secrets, Sexual Frustration, Singer Eren Yeager, Singer Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Sleepovers, Slice of Life, Switching, Tattooed Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Underage Drinking, Writer Eren Yeager
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:53:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 34,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25668514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justcallmefox/pseuds/Justcallmefox
Summary: "Maybe our story is a tragedy but I wouldn't want it any other way."Life had a strange way of things when you think about it. One day, it's all just perfect. But then the next it's just problem after problem. People say that's just how life goes but why does it have to?Eren Jaeger, at the age of 18, has a life that has been one huge roller coaster. It was like he couldn't escape it. Trapped in a world where problems surrounded him. Prone to the problems that life hands to him whether he asks for it or not.But writing was his outlet to all these problems, he made stories, short or long, to cope with what he deals with. It made him happy enough to get through life's curveballs. But those moments didn't last long enough once he realized that those won't come true. Nothing is perfect.But when the new guy in town, Levi Ackerman, came into his life by a mere coincidence his life was turned upside down. And maybe instead of Eren being the one to write all these stories, maybe Levi could be the one to help rewrite his life. Make him live each day like it was his last.-
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 12
Kudos: 30





	1. Pack Of Cigarettes

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! This is the very first story that I have decided to officially post as I for the longest time had not been very confident in my own writing, but I am looking forward to starting a journey on here and share with everyone ^_^
> 
> But I do have a quick warning that this story will be containing suggestive topics such as mentions of suicide. It is not going to be a major thing in here but it will be mentioned at some points in future chapters so if it makes you uncomfortable then I do suggest you stop reading here.
> 
> Other then that I do hope that you guys enjoy this story.
> 
> <3

_"You're like my cigarette. You're my morning and night thought. Always on my mind. And when I get you, I'll need more."_

_**-Levi-** _

"Wake up old man or we'll be late" I grunted under my breath as I nudged the limp body on the floor with the toe of my foot; a body that had been lying there since last night. But from the action I had only cared to give this early in the morning, I had earned a slur of curses and groans from him that was obviously aimed towards me. I nudged him again with my foot but this time a bit more harsh so he could roll onto his side, but more so because I was impatient when it came to him.

To my luck I had only earned a very lazy whack to the leg out of annoyance but I could care less about how he felt at the moment; we were on a time crunch.

"If you don't get your ass up in the next few minutes I'm leaving without you.”

And with that I turned to head out of the room that reeked of body odor and alcohol. Seriously how could someone breathe this kind of air and not feel like gagging?

But my steps had been forced to a stop when I felt his lanky finger wrap around my ankle to stop me from walking out. I turned my head to look over my shoulder and then down, the temptation growing way too fast to just yank my foot out of his hold.

"Just give me five minutes, brat" he croaked out in a raspy voice that sounded like fingernails against chalkboard; it literally sent shivers down my spine, "and I'm not an old man, I'm your uncle” but his words quickly into inaudible noises as he cupped his forehead with the palm of his hand; obviously due to the hangover.

Yeah some uncle you are.

"Whatever uncle" I said in a cold tone as I yanked my ankle from the now very loose grasp my uncle, Kenny, had had around my limb before making my way out of the room as if my life depended on it. The room and Kenny reeked of death and the fact he had the audacity to even lay a finger on me made me want to wash every inch of my body. Even though all he did touch was my ankle.

When I made it out of the room and into the hallway, I stopped once again to look over my shoulder to take in the rugged look that has been common for him to sport in the early mornings. His hair is all disheveled and the very obvious bags under his eyes from his lack of sleep that along with the unshaven face. I couldn’t even count the amount of times that I've begged him to clean up in the past week. And his clothes had some stains covering it and I could only imagine where those had come from; just the thought made my stomach turn.

"And while you're at it go take a shower. You smell just like a dead skunk.”

Before he could say anything to comment on what I had just said, I shut the door behind me. I only heard the sound of a muffled voice behind the door and I could tell he was throwing insult back at me, but something like that didn’t bug me. Living with that man for an uncle led me to growing tuff skin. Any other person would be balling their eyes out and bitching about how their feelings were hurt.

It’s like a band aid, rip it right off and get through that temporary pain. It isn’t easy to do the first couple of times but then it’s something you eventually get used to over time to the point it’s like nothing anymore.

Now that I have been freed from that room, my footsteps have become the only noise echoing in the house as I headed down the stair; which didn't faze me in the slightest. It was something I had grown accustomed to since I started to live alone with him.

I'm the one who always woke up first, didn't lay around in bed for hours on end after waking up and instead made myself useful. Cleaning around the house even it had been just cleaned the day before to making myself food instead of waiting for the old man to stomp lazily down the stairs just to give me shit for breakfast. I swear that man probably didn’t even know how to work an oven let alone what a pan was. And luckily for him I was nice enough to make the effort for him and leave a plate out whether he chooses to eat it or not.

Even though he had become my guardian after my mother had passed, I can't lie and say that he's the reason I have stayed under this roof instead of living off of scraps on the streets. Because almost all of his money goes to things that wind up with him stumbling into the house at three in the morning, or shit that just winds up broken, I have been the one who had to pay. Well most of the time anyways.

I didn’t mind working; it has actually been very refreshing to me. It kept me going through each day that passed by, besides the fact that I did have focus on going to school as well. It wasn’t hard to do anyways; especially when I lived in a town full of pricks I was lucky enough to not be busy with friends.

My days were spent going to school, going to my first job of the day, do my homework somewhere other than at home, go to my second job, and then go home and clean up after my uncle before having dinner and going to bed. That had been it. Or if I was lucky, and have some time off for myself, I went off to some party that some other brats were throwing down the block. My life has been like a routine, but then again it wasn’t. I could’ve chosen to not get a job, could’ve dropped out of school and grow up to be like my uncle.

But I chose this way because I wanted to, not because anyone else told me to. My own rules. My own life.

Once I made it down the stairs, my feet took me over to the kitchen as if they were thinking on its own. I mean all I really need to do is wait for Kenny to come down for us to get going so spending that time in the kitchen sounds like it would be well spent. As I headed towards the kitchen though, my gaze fixed onto the suitcase and duffle bag situated at the door and for a brief moment I felt good; I was close to getting out of this shithole.

After I had stepped foot into the kitchen, something in me went into automatic and my way over to the counter. When reaching the said counter, I turned on our outdated kettle after having put some water into it; at least enough for me to make a cup of tea for myself. For an outdated object it was worked like it just came out of the box.

And now I just stood there in the silence while I waited for the water to boil. And only then I would be welcomed to the scent of black tea. Probably one of the things I'll miss when I leave. Waking up every morning and sit back on the couch with a nice cup of black tea and watch the sun light up the room with each passing second. Just for me and nobody else.

For what felt like forever, I was finally leaving this dump. Even though this is the place I have grown up in all my life, I couldn’t stay. This kind of place wasn’t where I could make something of myself. The closest that I could get to in this town was working at the hardware store. Everyone would know you then.

But it felt like I was stuck in a cage and the thought of living my whole life here sounded like a nightmare. And now I have the door wide open for me and if I passed on that, that door may not open up again; so I was not about to have that kind of opportunity to slip through my fingers. And I grabbed ahold of it as tight as I could. Getting a job outside of town was what I needed. Of course I need to get through an interview in person but if I don’t get that job I can always find another, a job is a job. If it pays money then might as well take it, right?

My temporary thoughts came to halt when the steam started to roll out from the opening of the kettle; indicating that the water was now boiling. Without a second to waste I reached a hand over and turned the kettle off before it made too much noise. I grabbed a mug from the cupboard, having to get onto the tip of my toes due my height.

While going through the normal process of making tea, I took a glance over my shoulder and just then a small sigh went past my lips when seeing no sign of Kenny. But the only fortunate part of not seeing him was that if I listened close enough I could hear the shower running in the upstairs bathroom. And with that knowledge I thanked whoever set him straight and did just this one thing for me. I eventually picked up the mug by the lip of it and turned around to lean back against the counter and took a sip of the welcoming taste of black tea. As I did, small hum formed and almost immediately took another sip of it. If this wasn't some form of drug then I don't know what is. Could lay me in a hospital bed and pump my veins with black tea and I would just live off that.

It was truly the only comforting thing I have had for an amount of time I have lost track of. If something bad happened, I drank tea. If I waking up from a strong hangover and instead of taking painkillers I just drank tea; well I should take painkillers because hangovers are a complete bitch. But it never mattered what time of day or whatever happened I needed it. It was like warm feeling felt a home should give you and that was enough for me.

Suddenly the sound of a loud thud came from the direction of the stairs and not even a couple second went by before a string of curses following suit. But instead of checking to see if he was okay, I just rolled my eyes and stayed put while I enjoyed the tea. It’s not like this was the first time this has happened before; surprisingly it wasn’t a routine.

A minute or two after the small incident happened, Kenny finally reveals himself in the doorway to the kitchen, now looking half as decent than he was earlier. He did change his clothes and his hair was nearly pushed back and the once unshaven face now held a toothy grin. At least I could stand in a room with him and not feel like the air suddenly felt thick from odor.

“Now why didn't you come help your dear uncle? I could’ve been seriously hurt you know." The sound of his voice now sounding a bit better than it had earlier; definitely more tolerable to listen to.

"Because I didn't care" I said as if that wasn’t one of the rudest things to say. But off course Kenny never took offense to anything I spat at him and instead chuckled as he made his way over.

A pout fixed on his features to try and look like he was hurt by my words even though amusement dared to spread across his face, "oh c'mon at least show a little sympathy."

But instead of even showing a sign of care towards him I lifted my hand up and stuck my middle finger in his general direction as I drank the now lukewarm tea. A low chuckle came from Kenny as he reaches his hand over and ruffles my hair as if I was some kid.

Oh how lucky he was that I was in the middle of drinking tea or my hair would be the last thing he touched, and instead I glared at him as fixed my hair with the only hand I could use.

It annoyed me whenever he did that and he very well knew that, but of course being the man he was he didn't care. He could press my buttons as many times as he felt like it and no matter how pissed I was he just laughed it off like it was nothing. I mean it isn’t a big deal but making sure to piss me off as much as he possibly can make it matter more.

Without another word to him I finished my tea and pushed myself off of the counter and walks over to the sink, and with just a turn of the handle the water came out. As I washed the mug I watched Kenny from the corner of my eyes seeing that he was opening up a cabinet, hopefully being the food one instead on the assorted alcohol I for some reason had once decided to organize alphabetically. Just as I turned the sink off and grabbing the towel to dry the mug he pulled out a small bag of chips. I couldn't help a tch of disapproval from coming out as if I was some mom watching her son grab candy instead of something healthier.

But no word came from Kenny but instead chuckled as he usually did. I set the cup right into the cabinet without a problem and walked right out to the living room without another glance to him. I seriously needed to get out of this place.

And just as if Kenny had read my mind, he strode right out of the kitchen. He took a few chips out of the bag and stuffed them into his mouth, staring right at me; silently. Of course I thought that he came out here to tell me we were heading out, so the silence obviously was not what I expected.

I sighed under my breath and went to go speak up but he reached a hand into his back pocket and was quick to dangle his keys in between his thumb and index finger so they made a rattling noise, "are you ready to go kiddo?"

Don’t have to ask me twice.

**-**

Ever since we had gotten onto the road I had been having a serious debate go on in my head if whether or not I should just jump out of the moving car; and jumping out sounded amazing at the moment.

The moment we got onto the road it's been nothing but Kenny talking my ear off and he made it all the more tempting to tuck and roll out of this car if he didn't shut up. I had fully intended to keep the small talks at bay so he didn't pretend to get all sappy with me but no. Apparently it was something that couldn't be done until I finally made it to my destination.

To a fortunate turn of events, I didn’t know anyone that are where I’ll be staying. Thankfully to me saving up money on the side I was able to find a place in advance so I didn’t waste payment on a hotel room for who knows how long. From the looks of it, the picture and reviews on the place I had found had fit my expectations and some people I used to work with were able to help with getting it all set up for me before I arrived.

Before Kenny had jumped into the car I of course had put in a location that was luckily a ten minute walk away from where I'd be staying. I wasn’t about to let him see where I live or have my address and giving it out to people or doing surprise visits most likely drunk.

A ten minute walk wasn't something that bugged me anyways, I’ll just be pulling a suitcase behind me and have a duffle bag over my shoulder. They were quite heavy but it didn't matter to me as much as it would with other people, from all the working I have done I’ve become quite built; not to brag or anything.

And besides it shouldn’t be too hard to get there by foot, if I get lost then I can just use my phone to help me get there. No big deal.

Suddenly a snap of fingers came into my view and hearing, making my head snap over to look in Kenny's direction, "what is it?" I asked in a rather cold tone.

"If you paid any attention short stuff then you can see that we're here" Kenny's tone sounding a bit off but obviously found it funny how I was spaced out. I shot a glare towards him for calling me “short stack” before looking out of the window seeing that he in fact did reach the destination I had made the GPS take us to.

It was a bit of a rundown gas station but seemed to still be in use as there were a couple cars parked outside and the lit up sign saying they were open. "Is this where you're staying? Doesn't seem.. homey?”

"Yeah surprise I'm going to live in a gas station, come visit me anytime" I said sarcastically as I opened up my door and swung my legs out now getting out of the car.

"Haha very funny. But why didn't you just have me drop you off in front of your actual place?" Kenny asked as if he was absolutely clueless to the reason why. I mean I didn’t tell him in the beginning for a reason, knowing very well he would figure out how to convince to let him drop me off at the actual address. I rolled my eyes instead and shut the passenger door to now open the back door to grab my bags.

Once I had taken them out and set them out the ground outside the sound of someone clearing their voice made my head shoot up only to find out it had come from Kenny. Of course he was waiting for me to answer his stupid question.

"Because I don't feel like it’s necessary for you to know where I am" I answered as if that was no big deal. He frowned like that hurt him but then eventually shrugged it off like it was nothing and gave a toothy grin as he got ready to respond, but I was not about to let him have that chance. "I have to go now, don't die on your way back home" and without allowing him to try and utter a word again I shut the door and patted the roof of the car for him to drive off.

He took a moment to oblige to my command but eventually backed out of the parking lot of the gas station. I watched as the car skidded off down the road I had just came down from as I pulled the cigarettes from my back pocket. I was lucky enough to snatch them from the compartment in the car without being caught. For someone who smoked, he strongly disapproved of it when I so much as take a glance to a pack.

I take a stick out from the pack before slipping it back into my back pocket and now retrieving my lighter. After having now the end of the stick lit I set the lighter back into my front pocket where it normally sits.

My eyes flew shut as the smoke now filling up my lungs after one breath in. I slowly pulled the cigarette away from my lips and held the breath in for a little, letting the burning sensation sink in while I let the sun envelop me in its welcoming warmth.

The smoke eventually went past my lips and out into the open with a sigh following behind it not long after. I now opened my eyes and my gaze stared off at the sky now. I did have squint due to how bright it was at this time of the day, but that wasn’t going to stop me from taking a good look at what sat above me.

The corner of my lips rose a little before lowering my head, the feeling of a headache starting to kick its way in, and turned around and started to walk in the direction of my official destination; dragging the suitcase behind me while the other bag hung from my shoulder.

I was finally alone, away from the hellhole that I even dared to call my own home. Away from the drunken uncle, who I've come to babysit most of my life; can only imagine how tiring that became. And away from any responsibility I had to hold while I was there. That weight seemed to have lifted off of my shoulders knowing I won't have to deal with that ever again. My uncle wasn't about to drag me back no matter what the reason may be.

I was finally free.

But the walk and neither the freedom hadn't lasted too long for my taste when the sound of shuffling came from behind me. I didn't look over or stop because of that, I could care less about that. But instead the sound of some clearing their behind me was made me stop; obviously trying to get my attention. Before they could utter a single word, I turned my head over my shoulder and went to speak up and give a snarky question, but all seemed to fail when my eyes landed on the person standing behind me.

"Sorry to bother you but.. I believe you dropped your pack of cigarettes."


	2. He is the Fire and I am the Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter came sooner than I had expected, but I couldn't wait to post another ^_^ but I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the first.

_"She is fire, he is ice. One glimpse of her ignites the stone cold eyes. The heat of her body melts the frozen parts of his heart. He walks through flames just to feel her warmth."_

_-Christy Ann Martine_

_**-Levi-** _

It wasn't simple to put things into words. No. It was impossible, in fact, for most things to be described with merely anything but just words. I wasn't one for getting speechless, even if it is to just take back the small box situated in the boy's hand.

No, it should've just been a: take it back and a "thanks" while walking away with a never see you again kind of attitude.

But instead of taking the easy way out, my body was unmoving and my lips sealed shut as my eyes were glued on the figure in front of me.

And in that moment I must have looked like a complete idiot to him, just standing there and staring like I was seeing two heads instead of just one. Not my ideal first impression to strangers. Would it be too late to walk away now and just ignore the fact that we were just staring at each other for what felt like dreadful hours when maybe it was just a minute or so?

Then again I can't complain; he wasn't making any effort to try and get me to say something. Hell, get me to say that I'm an idiot and that'll be it and I can move on with my day; even just placing the cigarettes into my hand and then walking away from me would be just fine.

I'll be okay with literally anything at this rate.

But I also couldn't lie about the fact that I was basically checking him out.

I'm not remotely attracted to him in that kind of way, but the clothing he wore to the mop of chocolate brown hair I couldn't help but want to stare longer. His clothes weren't much of anything besides blue ripped jeans and a t-shirt with an unfamiliar band name that I don't care to dive into. But what kept me quiet and still was his eyes. Typical first eye-catching feature on another person; how cheesy of me. But this doesn't normally happen to me.

His eyes were different.

Different as in he didn't have matching eyes.

As in, I have never seen someone look so captivating when their eyes were as bright as his. His left eye setting into more of a teal that for some reason reminded me of a sea like green, while his right eye was something that reminded me of honey; almost gold. A honey yellow almost sounded too simple of a color, yet something about him having that as an eye color intrigued me the most of all; especially when they looked like they were radiating with life.

But to my luck, he eventually cleared his throat in attempt to snap me out of my apparent daze, even though I was in no daze but just wasn't sure what to say. Not that he has to know.

"I thought you might have wanted it back than worry about losing it later." The boy spoke up in calm, yet somehow a raspy, tone. It was a rather soothing voice even though all he had spoken about was me most likely worrying my ass off over something I could just buy later.

"Thanks kid" was all I said to him as I finally took the pack out of his hand and shove it into the back pocket of my jeans, "but I don't need to worry about wasting money on a brand new one, I don't give two shits about wasting a couple bucks."

As a response the boy laughed, and I already hate how this was going for me. It was just a laugh, but just like his voice, it was a soothing sound to me. It was a sound that I would gladly love to keep listening to.

Of course I also won't tell him that. Something like that would bump me another point up for being a creep. That was the last thing I needed right now.

I rolled my eyes and averted my gaze away from him and focused on keeping my gaze on something else, but feeling some kind of relief yet desire to just look at him again. I hate this kid already and it hasn't even been five minutes.

"Sorry I couldn't help myself" he says in between small breathless laughs. Sure he was sorry.

But why did that make him laugh of all things that just happened? If anything I would think he would laugh to how I weird I was for standing here like a complete idiot. Unless he just had a horrible sense of humor.

"Yeah sure you couldn't."

"I mean it."

With another roll of my eyes, I look over to him, "where in what I had just said could've possibly made you laugh?"

"It wasn't what you said; it was how you said that made it funny is all." The brunette said with a simple shrug like that was something of complete unimportance. Then again, it wasn't important in the slightest, but I might as well redeem myself for not saying anything.

"Whatever, thanks for getting it for me anyways. You can go back to your parents, friends, or whoever you came with. We're done here." I said with a bit of impatience covering my tone towards the kid as I brought the almost forgotten cigarette up to my lips, taking another drag of it.

I turned my head to blow it out instead of directly onto him. I was rude but not that rude.

"Oh yeah of course, you're right. I bet you have to get somewhere anyways so I'll leave you to it."

I turn my head once again to look at him and a soft smile now planted onto his face. I wasn't sure if it was real or not, but didn't have to amount of shits to care about it, and turned around and grabbed ahold of the handle of my suitcase, "nice meeting you kid" I said with a wave of a hand as I started to walk once again.

And I swore I could hear him mumble under his breath and to my luck, from purposely straining my hearing, I was able to make out what he had said.

"Maybe you should stop smoking and that could change your attitude."

I let out a small '"tch" of irritation as I kept walking off. He said it like I was about to listen to some mere stranger. Yeah, over my dead body; no way was that going to happen.

So dropping my cigarette onto the ground and put it out with the toe of my boot was because I wanted to. What he said had no ounce of influence on my decision whether he had wanted it to or not.

I live life by my own rules. If I want to smoke I can very well do it as much as I please. If I want a drink then I will drink to my heart's content. And if I want to flip someone off because they pissed me off then I will without caring who gives a snarky comment about it. That is just how I live. Some stranger wasn't going to dictate what I can and can't do. If someone comes into my life and doesn't accept it then they are free to leave, I don't need people dragging me down.

That's just how it is.

**-**

"And this is where you will be staying."

The woman spoke in an unusual chirpy tone as she pulled the key out of the keyhole and pushed the door open. I swear if this woman does not drop that act and talk normally to me I will make sure she learns not to talk in that tone to me again.

But that didn't matter to me as much once the door had opened, revealing an already furnished home. Thankfully I knew someone that was able to help out furnishing this place otherwise I might as well live in a bare home.

I stepped foot into my new home after the woman had walked in and immediately she had went back to talking. Mostly about upgrades on the place before I had officially moved in, but I couldn't care to listen as I slipped my shoes off and placed them neatly to the side.

Of course I should still keep them on for the obvious fact that the person who owns this building is still here, but I wasn't about to track dirt into my new home.

As I walked further into the place, my attention was immediately on the empty bookshelf situated in the living room. It had nothing on it, but that will be changing in the later future; or whenever I found the time to fill it up. I ran the tips of my fingers over one of the shelves carefully before lifting my hand up and scanned over to make sure nothing was on it. I sighed of relief when I saw nothing on my hand and mentally noted that I was already pleased with the place. Of course, I do have more rooms and furniture to check to make sure it is to my standards. 

That was one of the few traits I actually like about myself. I don't think it is considered a trait but more like a habit of mine. It has been something I have grown used to doing over the years and never bothered to stop.

I had a thing for my surroundings being clean. It wasn't exactly healthy but I was not about to get sick because I let a speck of dirt get into my home and then forget to clean it up. If anyone came into my home and so much as get dirt on the floor I will personally make sure that they clean it up before they can do anything else.

A bit excessive I know, but it's something I can't bring myself to not care about.

The landlady walked off into the kitchen, her voice a bit distant now because I had chosen to stay in the living room to look over the furniture. Besides the bookshelf, the living room consisted of a light grey sectional sofa that was leaning against the wall the windows were placed, along with a white rug and small grey coffee table that had two small black drawers obviously consisting of no personal items yet.

A floor lamp was situated in the corner of the living room, but nothing to special about it. And right across from the couch was a T.V. situated on top of a dark wood television stand. Of course the drawers and shelves to it were empty for now, but other than that the living room looked exceptional to me.

Once satisfied with taking the quick look, I had decided that it'd probably be best to follow the woman into the kitchen; her voice had become more audible. I mentally cursed to myself for having to still listen to her but let my eyes wander around the kitchen. It had a nice dark wood dining table with a few chairs on the right once you walk in, otherwise it was a fairly decent looking kitchen if I say so myself.

And that was how the rest of the time with her had been spent; showing me the two bedrooms and bathrooms, along with the empty closets; which I saw no point in. I was silent the entire time as gave me the mini tour, minding my own business most of the time and listening to as much as possible before my eye wandering session had come to a sudden halt when I noticed she had turned to look at me.

"Anything else more to add or are we done here?" I spoke up finally, finding the question rather necessary. I didn't think my patience was too high at this point with all the talking and walking around she has been doing. I'm not living in some mansion, I'd be very surprised if I wind up lost in a two-bedroom apartment.

Anyone else would've grown a scowl on their face from the words I have chosen to use, but instead she still smiled like everything was fine and dandy.

"Yes I believe so, that was it of the tour so if you have any ques-"

"I do not have any questions, I'm fully aware of everything we have discussed."

Of course, she still looked the least bit unfazed, besides that obvious look of annoyance in her eyes, which sort of irritated me but chose not to push on trying to get her to show she was annoyed. The last thing I need is for her to have a reason to kick me out.

"Alright, well if you do then feel free to call. Have a good rest of your day Mr. Ackerman."

And with that she took her leave. I shivered at how she formally addressed me like that, made me feel old.

But the feeling of relief washed over me just when she had left, now leaving me to myself which I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the rest of my day. I think I deserve at least that before I have to go out and interact with more people.

So, to get off of my feet for just a little, I sought best to go sit down on the couch that was quietly welcoming me into its warmth; unpacking can wait.

And just as I was about to go sit down on my new couch, a knock came emitting from the front door which earned a loud groan from me. I didn't care if the person behind the door had heard me; I just got here and just finished dealing with the landlord giving me a pointless tour of the place.

But unfortunately I knew that they weren't going to leave once another knock came into hearing again. They know that I'm here or they wouldn't have made the effort of knocking again.

Instead of sitting down and ignoring the knocks, I took several dreaded steps over to the front door and swung it open without even checking through the peephole to see who had decided to come pay a neighborly visit.

"What do you want?" My voice sounding a little off edge, but could you blame me? I thought I would finally have some peace and quiet.

"Oh sorry, I just came by to say hello but I seem to have interrupted something right?" A female's voice came into hearing and my gaze finally focused in on the person in front of me. The first two things that I noticed about this person was the dark red hair sitting atop of her head and her big green eyes that reminded me of the ones I had just seen earlier. Her voice was definitely that of a woman but it wasn't a voice that irritated me; sounded far better than the landlord in my opinon.

"You did, but I might as well wait on doing that now since you're here."

"Oh that's good! I thought you were going to shut the door on me." She said with a girlish laugh.

I almost shut the door on her. Almost is the key word. She was about to make it far too tempting to do that and go back to the couch and sit.

With a small sigh I spoke up to interrupt her laughter, "yeah yeah, now how does this work? Do I invite you in with your baked goods and we have a nice conversation then become good neighborly friends?"

Unfortunately that did not stop her from laughing. If anything, it made her laughing worse. At this point she was holding her stomach with one arm while the other hand covered her mouth to muffle the loudness of her fit of giggles. If she didn't stop at any point in time I will shut the door in her face and call it a day.

And I was going to, the action already in the process, but she had a surprisingly quick reaction and her laughing died down for the most part as she stopped the door with one of her hands. And with that I gave her a glare for even trying to stop me but just only looked unfazed.

"I'm sorry for being rude, I couldn't help myself. You're just so funny." She said as an innocent smile formed on her lips.

Apparently I'm the fucking comedian in this town so far today so there's that.

"Right, but seriously what do I do?" I now ask honestly, hopefully the girl in front of me catches on seriously this time or I will make sure this door does shut.

And thankfully she did as the playful smile turned into a genuine one, one that I actually didn't mind, "well first things first, I have to introduce myself you and then you introduce yourself to me." She briefly explained to me, probably in hopes I understood.

But for some reason she had decided to pause which led to the both of us staring at each other. Silently. And when the silence finally got too long I gave a wave of my hand for her to continue.

"Are you going to introduce yourself or what? I don't have all day."

"Oh! Right, silly me" she said with a small giggle and then holds her hand out towards me, "my name is Isabel Magnolia, your name is?"

I stared down at her hand, the one she held out to me, and debated on whether or not to even touch it. I don't know where her hands have been before she came knocking on my door. But I sought best to not be rude and took Isabel's hand into my own to shake, "the name is Levi. Levi Ackerman."

Her eyes practically sparkled as we shook hands, thankfully not being a long one since she pulled it away after a good couple of seconds, "well it's nice to meet you Levi, I hope we can become good friends, it's hard to make any new ones because they're either old or a couple of lousy college kids."

In your dreams, "likewise Ms. Magnolia-"

"You can just call me Isabel, silly."

"-Isabel" I said through gritted teeth, not so keen with how she interrupted me while I was talking, "thanks for stopping by and saying hello. Is that all there is to this?"

Isabel stood there in silence like she was thinking of anything else and the fact that she told me that she rarely, or never, got past that first step of meeting a new neighbor. A part of me felt bad for her, she seemed really sweet so far, but I wasn't about to admit it out loud to her especially since we just met.

But time didn't go by too long before she finally spoke up again, "there isn't much else unless you do invite me inside and that's where can talk more. Or if not, then I can invite you over later for dinner. My roommate and I would gladly like to have you over."

Her roommate? So someone had to live with this person every single day? I mean no offense to her. She is very nice, but she already come off as someone who gets clingy to people real fast and I had a good feeling that's where it was leading with her and I.

"I can't tonight, I have to get up early tomorrow for an interview. I can do another night if that is possible for both you and your roommate." Why I was opening up like that and offering to do a later date was beyond me.

I couldn't deny that she was a sweet person and I truly wouldn't mind her being one of the few people I got to know around here, but the fact that I openly came out and said I had an interview. I could've just said that I'd be busy.

"Oh alright, well we can have the dinner this Friday? If you are free that day that is, then we will gladly have you over that day." She said with a small, yet confident laugh after she had finished speaking. She didn't even check with this roommate of hers and just put it out there that the both of them were free.

I could lie and tell her that I in fact would be busy, but when would I finally say yes to having the dinner? She doesn't seem like the kind of person to just give up when situations like that arise, but I didn't see a point with pushing that day further and further away so I could "forget" and then apologize for not showing up.

"Friday sounds good to me, I'll make sure to stay free that night then." Might as well do it to get it out of the way, right?

"Great! Then I'll see you on Friday at... six?" She said in more of a questioning tone as if to confirm the time with me. Instead of a verbal response I just nodded my head as a confirmation for her so she could keep talking, "alright, then I will see you at six. It was nice meeting you Levi."

Wish I could say the same, "Likewise Isabel. Try not to hurt yourself on your way back home."

Instead of laughing, she rolled her eyes but with a smile forming on her face, "I'll be just fine, don't need to worry about me."

"I'm not wor-"

"Sleep well and good luck tomorrow!" She practically shouted as she turned around and skipped off to her place, leaving me with an incomplete sentence. Not the worst thing to leave someone with, but definitely not the best. It was hard to not shout back at her to finish with what I had to say, but instead I stepped back in and shut the door.

I deep breath came out from the back of my throat and I had just realized how much relief washed over me now that I was alone again. Here I thought she was just going to invite herself into my home or drag me all the way over to her own. So the fact that I am still standing here, alone at that, was like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

But now that I think about it, it wasn't all too bad here.

Besides the landlord, that I will have no choice but to get used to, I already met a decent neighbor. If anything, I expected to be confronted by a rude neighbor that would complain about how I park or something along those lines even though I don't have a car.

But my thoughts were quick to change when now the thoughts on what would happen on Friday lingered. The interview I had set for tomorrow to confirm my position at the place I will be working at should've been at least one of the first things I was thinking about when she left.

I would have to meet another person that day, which is not exactly my forte, but if I want to stay here without any of my neighbors bitching about everything I do then looks like I need to make some friends while I'm here.

And for some reason after having met Isabel, that didn't sound all too bad now.

But for some reason the thoughts of the Friday dinner and the interview tomorrow didn’t become much of a thought anymore and instead for some reason they were the thoughts of earlier today; and which slowly flooded into my head.

It wasn’t about the moments I spent packing. Not the moment I left the town. Not even when I stepped out of the poor excuse of a car. Instead of the ones that may have made more sense, the thought of the stranger I had met was where my mind had decided to wander off too; those big eyes, that radiant laugh, and even the messy mop of brown hair.

I sigh under my breath and make my way over to the couch, the mere thought of unpacking became a dreadful one; now in no mood to put things away right now. I slumped onto the couch, sprawled out as best as I can as my gaze stared up at the blank ceiling. I hated how he did this to me. I only knew this kid for a matter of several minutes and yet here I am and cursed with the sight of him burned in my head.

“That little shit.” I mumbled under my breath as I slung an arm over my eyes to welcome my sight to darkness.

I hated this; I hated how some total stranger clawed their way into my head like this. Maybe if I just didn’t look at him and took the pack out of hands I wouldn’t be laying here with thoughts of the boy. I have known plenty of other people all, or most, of my life and they weren’t even remotely a thought; and even if they were I never cared to even dwell on them.

So why he was a thought that wouldn’t go away was way beyond me.

But then again, maybe I do know why. When I first saw him I was suddenly drawn to those eyes. They were just eyes, everyone had them, but yet something about his was different from the ones I have seen many times before. They held some warmth that had made me realize how I cold I really was.

Most of my live had to grow tough, grow up faster than other kids my age. I couldn’t put down walls that protected me from getting hurt by words, actions, and looks. I had to be cold to others and put them in their place when they tried to step over the line. Of course I used to be different than now, but it was life that made me who I am today. The reality we all have to face and I just happen to figure out things earlier than others.

But I didn’t realize how cold I truly was until he looked into my eyes. In that moment, I realize now, was two totally different people. Both just mere strangers in each other’s lives and yet in the first, and last, moment we met it was different than any other encounter.

He is the fire and I am the ice. He held the warmth that someone like me needed but yet didn’t want to have.

It’s not like I like him. That was just impossible to do. I just felt different. And thoughts like that was just another reason to make me hate the kid more and more. I just can’t see him again. It should be simple to do; this town was bigger than where I came from.

I lifted my arm from my face and looked up at the ceiling once more with a huff of breath. What was I going to do?


	3. Embrace the Uncertainty

_“Trust the wait. Embrace the uncertainty. Enjoy the beauty of becoming. When nothing is certain, anything is possible.”_

_**-Levi-** _

To my surprise the week passed by rather quickly. Due to now living alone I had thought that it would’ve made days go by much slower and have countless moments where I just felt bored and lonely. But those days were the complete opposite and instead I had grown busy; and even if I had alone time I just used it to take care of myself before ending the night with sleep.

After the first day of settling in I finally was able to bring myself to unpack my bags and found a decent outfit to wear to the interview I had the following day. So when the next day rolled around and I was a bit more situated into my new home, I decided to not waste another moment and headed right out to get my interview done and out of the way.

I of course made sure to be on time. Even one second late I would’ve messed up my entire interview due to being annoyed with myself; and even busy filling my head with how much things could’ve been done with that second.

I know, crazy much?

But I got through the interview just fine and it was rather easy to do. People prepare you like it’ll be one of the hardest things to get through but everything felt natural and easy to respond to instead of sitting there and trying to come up with answers.

And with it being easy, at least to me, I wasn’t surprised when in the end they told me that I had gotten the job. It wasn’t the first time I had ever been hired but yet knowing I got the job meant I could stay in this town.

I couldn’t exactly call this place a town anyways, it was rather big and trying to get to the interview wasn’t all too easy; which led me asking for directions like some lost puppy. So if anything, this was more like a city, but fewer skyscrapers and more of the old, homey feeling.

But now with a job I can save up more money so I can get a mode of transportation and some more things to add to my home; for example, food. I wasn’t going hungry, I have money to hold me over until the first paycheck, but not enough to the point where if anyone went snacking there would be nothing left.

And it shouldn’t be such bad payment anyways. I had been hired to work at Sina’s Studio which wasn’t that big of a place but it was still pretty known according to the searches I had to make. It was more than just a studio though; the place was crawling with photographers, editors, designers, and even artists.

I wasn’t an artist nor a designer, I could not imagine having the kind of patience those people had, but I took the place as an apprentice for one of the more well-known photographers that work there.

While living back at home, taking pictures of people, buildings, or nature was what I found comfort in. It had always amazed me how a picture can hold so much; just a memory held in one single picture that will last years after that moment is done.

But I didn’t have professional experience and never traveled too far out to get a variety of pictures, but I was qualified enough to work under someone’s wing until I had grown enough to work on my own. I didn’t find it upsetting but rather a way to learn. And why not get paid for something that I like to do?

When I had been informed that I was hired, the person I was supposed to work for had not been there due to travelling out of town for business so I had been promised that I would see him whenever he came back. No exact date, so I wasn’t too sure if they didn’t know or didn’t see the point to tell me. So in the meantime, before he came back, I had been tasked to help anyone else; more like rush down unfamiliar streets to grab coffee or lunches the people had ordered or rush around in room after room with notes or projects to give to another person.

Not how I wanted the day to go, I honestly had already a couple of people I would love to “accidentally” pour coffee all over. As much as a job like that was probably mere luck to get, I wasn’t surprised when I had met some snotty people during the week. The higher the position the worse the person had seemed to get.

But in order to keep this job I needed to not cause any sort of trouble and play nice. Of course, I never missed the chance to add rude or sarcastic comments; just made my day feel more complete.

But having that job is what kept me busy throughout the following days after. It was consisted of working and running around so when I got home all I wanted to do was get off my feet and go to sleep. Having to run down several blocks back and forth at eight in the morning was not an ideal wake-up call but it made it easier for me to get some good night sleep instead of falling asleep late like I usually did.

None of it was stressful; it was actually easy once getting used to it and the thought of working with this photographer sounded worth the trouble; appealing even. It was an environment I felt comfortable in anyways.

Whenever my lunch breaks rolled around I took that time to look up on who I was going to be working with. It wasn’t that hard to find them once I put in the name of the studio along with the city so the research was rather easy than when trying to find this place.

Erwin Smith is his name. Blond, pushed back hair with an undercut, his eyes are a very vibrant ocean-like blue, his stature and broad shoulders made it look like he’s very well built, and, not to my surprise, he looked tall in the pictures. It isn’t too hard to tell when in pictures I see of him consisted of the man shaking some persons hand or even just standing next to them. Quite frankly I don’t know how tall the other people were but I don’t think every person he has met was fucking short.

But besides all of that I had been able to see some of his works on websites or throughout the workplace which helped me get used to seeing what he does. Seeing him in action will be a different story but I didn’t worry too much on what that would be like and more about how I needed to keep him impressed. I know I do an exceptional job with taking pictures but I will need to start stepping up my game to meet his standards of good work.

And so far, I have heard that he had eye for what he does. So he was a bit more challenging to please than any other person around here.

But with having gone through the week, it had only meant that Friday came around. And Friday meant dinner with my neighbors. I hadn’t thought much on it until the day had finally rolled around. And with the day finally being today, it grew way too tempting to just not go and have the rest of the day to myself.

That would have been much easier to do though if it weren’t for the fact that when I came back home, Isabel had called out to me and saying she couldn’t wait for dinner. I knew that I had no way out now. If I did she might nag at me about setting up for another date and I don’t think my patience would last too long if it came down to that.

Nonetheless, whether I was going or not, I had taken a nice cold shower to wake myself up and treated myself to a nice cup of black tea before I headed over. After going through the first week of work and dealing with running around for other people, I had decided that I would treat myself to it.

Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to myself as the time for the dinner was planned to be at six, so I had to finish my tea faster than usual and got up from the comfort of my couch to head out.

And now, currently I am standing in front of the exact door number I had been given; not told, more like a sticky note was left on my door with the apartment number so I knew where to go. Maybe if she didn’t do that then that could have been a good enough of an excuse to not show up.

With a sigh and a hesitant hand movement, I knocked on the door loud enough for whichever of the two to notice my expected presence.

It didn’t take too long to wait when the door swung open, but I couldn’t react fast enough when I felt Isabel tackle me into what felt like a bear hug. I wanted to push her away and tell her how this was remotely wrong of her but the hold she had on me was too tight for me to try and get out of let alone say anything without the feeling that I couldn’t speak. Better way to put it, she took my breath away.

I did eventually squirm in her hold when it felt like it was too long for me and luckily she had taken the hint to let go, or it was a coincidence, but now I was able to breathe properly; and I’d lie if I said that I didn’t give her a good glare for doing that.

“I can’t believe you actually came!” She exclaimed with a bit too much enthusiasm.

Yeah I can’t believe it either, “of course I did, did you think I wouldn’t?”

“Yeah kind of did. You seemed really busy so I thought you would’ve cancelled.”

“Oh, well, I came here to tell you that I can’t do dinner.”

And I swear with those words spoken, her expression just dropped. The excitement she had felt seemed to disappear in a matter of seconds and if I could take a picture of her reaction right now I would.

“Oh... well then that’s okay. Then we can always do it ano-“

“I was just kidding; damn do you not know how to take a joke?”

Her expression now changed to nothing but relief when I said that and started to laugh. I wasn’t sure if she was laughing because now she found it funny or the fact that she didn’t catch on that I was trying to be funny. Trying was the key word.

“Oh my god I thought you were serious” she says in between her laugh, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she carefully stepped to the side, “you can come in, the food is almost done.”

I realize, as I stepped foot into her place, that I could have just left and not do this dinner. But the look on her face had made me realize that I would probably just ruin her night after having been literally excited that I actually came. The fact that I cared how she felt was odd for me.

I wasn’t looking to be best buddies with her and this other stranger; just agreed to dinner and that’s it.

The door was shut and the figure of Isabel came back into view as she headed towards the kitchen with a bit of skip to her steps, “make yourself at home Levi!”

One thing I was not good at was making myself at home in another’s place. Making myself at home was kicking my shoes and pants off and slump on the couch or to take a shit in the bathroom whenever I felt like it. What did she expect me to do? Sit down and relax? I can’t relax; what if this “dinner” was to kidnap me. Kill me even. I know I may be a bit dramatic but I can’t be too careful when one of the two people just bear hugged me like we were besties and about to braid each other’s hair.

But in the end I had decidedly walked over to the couch and sat down. I wasn’t relaxing but rather tense even though this couch was comfortable. If I need to punch someone in the face I need to be ready when they least expect it.

As Isabel made herself busy in the kitchen, the front door opened once again. I swear I really was ready to jump and attack if this was an intruder; and the fact that I had expected the roommate to be a female but instead a man was walking in threw me off a bit.

As the door shut, I caught myself staring at this said man, taking in what he looks like before he could look at me. Already from first glance, his hair was a dark blond and the bangs of his hair hung over his forehead, his jaw was a bit sharp but just a bit over on the more typical side of jawlines, his face looking more oval like, but in an attractive sort of way, his height seemed to be average height so I don’t think I will have a problem with looking at him.

“Hey Izzy I’m back-” he started to say in his soft, calming, tone but stopped once he turned his head over to my direction and noticed that I was sitting on their couch. And now that he was looking at me I could see that his eyes were a light grey. I would say that they were like mine, but his had more of a light to them.

A warm smile rose to his lips, probably realizing who I was now, and makes his way over to me, “I take it you’re the Levi I have heard so much about.”

“The one and only” I said in the usual tone of voice, but really it was just hide the fact that I was surprised to have been spoken about. I mean it doesn’t sound all too bad but the fact that actually happened was almost too hard to believe; why would anyone want to talk about me?

He stuck his hand out to me, just like Isabel had done when she introduced herself to me so it was plainly obvious that he was doing the same as well, “my name is Farlan Church. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

And just like the time I met Isabel, that hesitation to shake his hand came rising up inside me. But of course that voice in the back of my head was telling me to be nice. I was in their home, not mine. I cursed to myself and reached out and take his hand into mine with a firm hold, now shaking his hand.

“Guess I can say the same to you.”

“You guess?”

“Do I need to repeat myself? I think I was pretty clear.”

Farlan looked taken aback by my words but was real quick to cough out a small laugh.

“Then I guess it’s nice to meet you.” He says as he pulled his hand away from the firm hold and stands up straight. I almost didn’t notice that he had to lower himself a bit to properly shake my hand. I probably should have stood up for him then, but that didn’t matter anymore.

I went to go respond but Isabel came darting out of the kitchen, and just like with me, she tackled him into a bear hug that probably just knocked the breath out of him just from the look on his face. So she does this to everyone and not just me.

“I-Izzy I haven’t been gone that long.” He says in a breathless voice while he somehow was able to hug her. But it made more sense because compared to his height; Isabel was definitely shorter than him. Now that I think about, whenever I stood in front of her we were practically able to look directly into each other’s eyes. Hell I may be a bit taller than her.

“I know! But you know I still miss you.” Her hold on him seemed to have loosened before eventually letting go of him and in that moment I only realized how uncomfortable I started to feel when they were hugging.

Not that they couldn’t, but for some reason I felt… left out?

“Yeah, yeah I know that.”

“Good- oh! Did you already meet Levi?!” Well she was quick to change a subject.

Farlan gave a small nod of his head as he turned to walk over to the door and push his shoes off with the toes of his feet, “yeah I met him, he already seems like what you have been telling me.”

Excuse me? I better have just heard that wrong or I’m about to hurt somebody, “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I snapped in the tone I wasn’t intending on using but that threw me off more than anything since I came here.

Isabel almost looked panicked while Farlan was the least bit fazed by the tone, and rose her hands up and out towards me as she waved them fast with a quick shake of her head, “oh no, no don’t take it that way-“

“Then how the hell am I supposed to?”

“I meant it in the best way possible; Isabel hasn’t spoken a bad word about you since you two met.” Farlan finished for her.

The best way possible? Last time I checked I wasn’t too polite to her and definitely made her know that she was not invited to come into my home.

Isabel seemed relatively calm now that was out there in the open and looks to me with more of an apologetic expression than the worried one she just had only a mere second ago, “I know you weren’t exactly the nicest person but you still didn’t shut the door in my face and actually agreed to coming over here.”

“But what does that have to do with me being nice? Dinner is dinner, that’s free food.”

And now the expression changed once again as she now laughed. Her mood did a three-sixty under a minute and I’d lie if I say I wasn’t impressed.

“Well that got you here. But it made Isabel happy when you said yes.” Farlan says with a sincere look on his face but a bit of humor hinted in the tone of his voice.

My gaze fell onto Isabel and there was a small warmth build up, a part of me feeling good that I was actually able to do that even though I was nothing but rude to her during our first meet. She still had a light in her eyes and found me amusing instead of taking my words to heart.

Just like with him.

I shake my head. I swear this has been happening all week and I can’t even begin to explain how much I hate it.

Soon the sight of Isabel rushing out of the living room and into the kitchen came into sight and the sound of pots clinging together came into hearing. I turned my gaze over to Farlan and if my face of confusion didn’t get him to move then I don’t know what will at this point. But luckily he did get moving, not even looking at me and instead followed her to the kitchen, now leaving me to be alone once again.

Should I go and see what is going on? I mean it isn’t any of my concern but if something happened to my food then I think I got every right to know if it’s safe to actually eat.

So that temptation of needing to make sure that the food was okay got to me as I stood up from the couch and made my way over to the two. And when I stepped into their kitchen the first thing that caught my attention was Isabel reaching over the stove to turn off the burners while Farlan was busy taking off the lids from the pots, letting the smoke roll up into the air. The fact that now the situation seemed calmer than whatever the noises were giving off threw me off to no extent.

Whatever the hell had just happened seemed to be nonexistent once I came in here.

Farlan had seemed to notice that I came waltzing in and turned his head to look at me, “sorry about that, she forgot to the check on the food and rushed with checking and made some noise.”

I wasn’t even sure if I should believe what he was saying but I just nodded not wanting to know if there was mess that I didn’t get to see. I nodded nonetheless and took my que to take a step out of the kitchen to leave them to what they were doing but I was stopped when Isabel took a hold of my arm.

“Could you help out? An extra pair of hands could be helpful” and in that moment I was able to take in how Isabel’s tone was more on the raspy, yet mature side rather than the high pitch I was used to from her.

Farlan looks over to me, the view of him being right out of the corner of my eyes, and looks to me with a look that said ‘you don’t have to.’

And even though he had said that, Isabel was looking at me as if almost pleading for me to say yes. I would say no but I don’t see a point when all I’d be doing is just sitting and waiting for them. So without even saying a word, I nodded my head as an answer to her and before I knew it I was dragged further into the kitchen without any kind of way to try and pull away.

“Alright! I need you to help plate the food while I while I get the table ready okay?”

“Um… okay? But-“

I didn’t get to finish my sentence as she darted out of the kitchen, most definitely setting the table up, and now just leaving me clueless. I mean it wouldn’t hurt to help but I don’t know where the fuck the plates were.

But someone clearing their throat caught my attention and I look over to see that it had come from Farlan, his eyes on me. Before I could say anything about how he could’ve been nicer and just called out, he gestures over to one of the cabinets.

I was confused for a moment as to why he would do that, but then suddenly remembered that I needed plates. That’s where they are I’m guessing, why else would he do that if that wasn’t the right cabinet? I give him a small nod before I walk over to the said cabinet and open one of the doors to see that there was a stack of plates and I swore I saw heaven right there. They were… so clean. Beautiful is the right word for them.

It may sound a bit much but some people I have met are too lazy to scrub off the hard food on a plate and call it clean. No. That is a poor excuse of cleaning, so I thought I had been the only one who knew how to actually clean. Not to brag but I am one hell of a cleaner if I say so myself.

I pull a few plates out for us and shut the cabinet before going right on to serving the food on them. While doing so I happened to get a peek at what we would be having and I don’t think my stomach grumbled so much under a few minutes from how good it smelled and looked.

Isabel had come back and took the plates from me once the food was on them and set them down on the table while she repeatedly said “thank you” to me and I couldn’t count the amount of times I just wanted to shut her mouth so she could just be quiet.

Once it was all done, the three of us situated ourselves at the table. And I may be the only one who had put a napkin onto my lap because the other two hadn’t even taken a glance at their own. Not my fault if they get their pants a mess if any food drops. I mean it wasn’t exactly a big deal for me to not have a napkin on my lap, but when I am around people I am not putting myself up for embarrassment.

Without a word leaving any of us, the two dug into their food; me being a bit hesitant before I eventually picked up the fork and started to eat the food in front of me. And not that long after we started to eat, a hum of satisfaction came over from Farlan.

“You know when you really put effort into it you really know how to cook.” But not long after those words had come out of his mouth, the sound of something getting kicked and a noise of displeasure came passed the male’s lips, slightly jumping in his seat.

My gaze fell on him with furrowed brows as I took in the expression of pain which answered any sort of question I even wanted to muster up. If Isabel really wanted to hurt him I can tell that she would be fully capable of doing so, so being kicked over a comment should be nothing. My eyes flickered over to Isabel to see the small frown of displeasure on her face which only proved the point further that someone wasn’t too happy.

“I was just complimenting you.”

“I _do_ put effort in every meal I make I’ll have you know” she said in a matter of fact tone while sticking her tongue out towards Farlan. So mature.

He puts a hand up in defense as he took a plate of said food to show that he was pleased with it, “I was joking Izzy, your food is always good.” I would have to take their word on that because I for one have only tasted this.

I let out a small sigh as I looked away from the two idiots and went back to eating my food in peace while they had decidedly fooled around about the same topic. Much to my dismay, the sigh I had taken the effort to create caught the attention of Isabel. I swear she was like a fucking bat with how good her hearing was.

“Are you okay? Do you not like the food?”

“No, the food is okay. But you guys are being complete idiots.”

“What makes you say that?” Farlan now asks instead of letting the other speak for herself.

“Because you two could choke on the food, or worse, make a mess of the place.”

I looked to the two when I felt two pair of eyes staring right at me, questioningly even. I know what I said but why the hell were they looking at me like I had a third eye on my damn forehead? But before anything could be done, let alone even said, Isabel exploded into a fit of laughter; holding her stomach tight and knocking herself back against the backrest of the chair, practically dying of her own laughter.

I noticed how Farlan shook his head of amusement, but didn’t go any farther than that after clearing his throat to go back to eating, not even bothering to pay attention to Isabel as if this has happened before. That wasn’t anything surprising to me. I decided then it was my best to just ignore Isabel instead of egging her on to keep going and went back to eating the food in front of me.

“If you keep laughing you’ll definitely choke now.” I decided to comment when the laughter didn’t seem to cease.

“I’m… I can’t help it!”

“Well you are going to have to help it or I will make you.”

“Aww Levi!” She now purred out in between deep breaths, “do you care about _me_?”

I scoffed as part of my response, not bothering to give her even a second of a glance, “in your dreams cupcake.”

“Oh c’mon you do _care_.”

“If me not wanting to deal with someone dying because of a piece of food and instead would gladly take this plate of food and walk out means I care then sure, I do care.”

Of course she laughed again.

“Agh!” That one noise wasn’t enough to make my head snap over to look in the direction of where it was coming from, but instead the noise of a heavy thump hitting the ground did. I looked over and in just the short amount of time of not looking to her; she had fallen onto the ground along with the chair.

I didn’t even make the move to get up, not even when I saw Farlan get up from his seat to rush over to the girl on the floor. It wasn’t really my problem after all, she chose to make a big deal over my choice of words and it resulted in her falling; simple as that.

As I went to go take another bite before the food could get cold, I could see her still on the ground now holding her head from the corner of my eyes. The laughter died down a bit, but the groan now emitting from her throat was coated with amusement. Farlan was kneeling beside her and the only thing coming from him were questions to make sure she was okay. And the longer she stayed down there made that deep part inside me to forget the food and go over and help out. That side of me wants to be praised for helping out and making sure she was okay, but something like that shouldn’t be something I want. I don’t care if they give me looks for not helping, it isn’t my problem.

But being me, my heart and mind don’t like to make up their minds, so I just went with gut feeling instead knowing that would just be best to listen to.

I put down my fork and get up from my seat, in no rush at all, and made my way over to the two and then knelt down next to Isabel just like Farlan was doing. Why she wasn’t helped up yet was beyond me.

“Did you hit your head? You know if you did that’s what you get for laughing that much.”

Isabel shakes her head, in an obvious effort to not laugh again, “I’m fine, it was worth it though.”

I look to Farlan who just shrugged at me then over to Isabel with a questioning look, “why?”

“Well, it’s because you came over to help me.”

Yeah now I regret helping her now. I knew that she would start to get sappy over this and yet here I am like I just asked for it.

I roll my eyes and then stand up from the ground and held a hand out for her to take, “just get your ass up already, we have food to finish and I would rather not eat it cold because of you.”

Luckily she did take my hand, almost without hesitation, and gets up onto her feet without any hint of effort in that action before letting go and looks to me with a wide smile, “you know you aren’t so bad.”

“Tch… don’t say such bullshit.” I look to her with a scowl now. I don’t get why she insists that I’m not so bad when all I just did was help her up from the ground since she was an idiot and fell back.

Isabel clenches a fist and nudges my arm with it, the smile never fading from her face, “lighten up will ya? I mean it… grumpy pants” she says with a playful smirk, doing anything in her power to not laugh at herself.

And I swear this was the first time someone had caught me off guard like this. I don’t know if I want to believe what I had heard her say was right. But the look on her face was only proving that statement to be just like I had heard.

Grumpy pants. That was the best she got? Even if that wasn’t much of an insult to begin with, she sure has the balls to try and use that on me. I don’t care if all it is is just two simple words, she was lucky that she didn’t wind back up on the ground; and it would not be because of laughing this time.

“Whatever, I’m not the crazy bitch and laugh even though I probably hurt myself.”

“Such a sourpuss are we?” She walks over and drapes an arm over my shoulder, putting her weight on me. I went to go shove her off of me, growing rather irritated that she keeps touching me and thinks it’s okay, but I stop when she spoke up again, “I’m glad you came you know? It makes me happy that you could take your time to do that for a stranger like me.”

I slowly stop all motions when listening to her, the once tense muscles growing limp, not seeing a point in pushing her away now. But I saw no point to do that when those words came out of her mouth. I know I had this thought earlier, but the fact that could make a stranger happy set an unfamiliar feeling inside me. It wasn’t bad either, but rather it was a good feeling; new even.

Isabel decided to take her arm off of me and walks over to the chair and picks it up with the help of Farlan while I stood there to just watch. I didn’t think I could move. I don’t think I even want to right now.

I hate what they’re doing to me under a few hours. I, in no way shape or form, am growing onto these two idiots just like that. As welcoming as the two are it doesn’t mean I can just trust the two of them just like that. It isn’t simple. But they aren’t making things so simple. As much as I want to hate them, they set that strange feeling into me that part of me wishes to just welcome in.

They were almost trying too hard to be my friends at this point, at least one was, and I don’t know what to do with this. I told myself plenty of times before that I wasn’t here to make any friends and I need to stick by my own words. I made it a commitment to work on my own life before I worry about things like friends and relationships. Those two were just going to be nothing but a huge distraction in my life and I did not need to worry about other people but myself.

But as I watched the both of them, a wide smile on each of their faces and the sound of laughter passing their lips in unison, the feeling only worsened inside me. The sight was just becoming a mere reminder that even people like me need to embrace the uncertainty. I may not like where this is going but if I must come to the point of having to accept what life wants to throw at me without caring if I will want to catch it or not, I will have to choice but to.

I lived for the uncertainty. But if this means that these two dumbbells are going to be sticking around in my life then I’m not too sure if I want to welcome this whether it wants to or not. The fact that they already made me feel something that wasn’t bad was an automatic red flag for me; but yet I didn’t want it to go away.

What the hell is happening to me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god I am so so happy!! I know it isn't even halfway into the story but I can't keep my excitement in control when I saw that I now have 117 hits and 12 kudos already; and even the comments you guys have given me. I know it isn't much but it has been enough to keep me motivated.
> 
> Also I apologize for taking awhile to update, so if this chapter isn't great I am sorry and will make up for it in the next chapter.
> 
> But thank you all so much! You guys reading means a lot to me <3


	4. A Single Absolute

_“I started my life with a single absolute: that the world was mine to shape in the image of my highest values and never to be given up to a lesser standard no matter how long or hard the struggle.”_

_-Ayn Rand_

**_-Levi-_ **

People usually to tell me that time only flies by when you’re having fun; and I’d hate to admit to it, but they were right.

Friday dinner with the nut-heads went faster than I expected; faster than I wanted it to. I hate to admit to it but I wished that that night lasted longer than it actually felt. As much as I felt the dread of going to their place only minutes before I can’t help but admit that it had become the last thing to dread about.

After having had dinner with the two, and Isabel having a couple more of her fits of laughter, they had offered for me to stay a bit longer a enjoy something to drink. When the offer had come up I had expected them to pull out bottles of beer, or something strong like whisky or vodka, but instead they pulled out red wine, the name unknown because they had kept insisting on pouring glasses for me because, as they put it, “you’re our guest.” It was strange enough when in the midst of a glass being poured for me, I had come to realize that it wasn’t pulled out during dinner.

Dinners usually were paired with one of more classic forms of alcohol, like for example: wine. But the more I had thought about it the more I had grown the assumption that it was used for an excuse to keep me to stay a bit longer.

And they were right.

I had stayed after dinner, to their luck, and we kept around the dining table as I was too afraid that there would be an accident in the living room if Isabel has one of her “fits” that I have quickly grown used to. But least to say, I have to admit to myself that I ended up enjoying more than one glass of wine that night. It obviously wasn’t something pricy; I mean who would go out of their way buy something as expensive as a bottle of a Romanee Conti just to sit around and chit chat? Now I would go bat-shit crazy if they got something like that.

But, even though it gave that obvious taste and smell of a store brand, some part of it still tasted like it wasn’t that cheap of a price either and that brought some guilt one I let that thought sink in. They probably just bought this because of me; wasted money over something that wouldn’t even last a full night. I was hoping that wasn’t the case, because if I was a no show they would’ve had wine sitting around for someone that wasn’t going to even going to get a taste of it; even dinner that was already made even before I was even there.

I didn’t even have to ask, though, Isabel fully admitted that they don’t usually buy any sort of alcoholic drinks for themselves as they just saw no purpose to it. So by the newfound information, the guilt that sat in the shadows rose into my guts when realizing that I had even thought of not coming over.

That night was the first night I truly had felt any sort of guilt or shame for my thoughts or actions. These damn people are doing something to me and I hate it to the very core. I hate how just a couple of people, who I just met, make me feel certain ways. Ways that I didn’t think would be possible for me to feel, especially feeling guilty.

And I truly don’t want to admit to this, even though I would just be lying to myself, but they made me like this sort of thing, just a bit though. There was some part of me that liked the attention that they were giving me that night. I liked the feeling of people actually wanting to be in my presence, the feeling of someone actually liking me and not eyeing me like I’m some eyesore.

But there was also no denying that I absolutely hated that I actually admit to liking it. Of course I would never admit out loud otherwise redhead would act all high and mighty about it and would most likely want to rub it in my face.

Besides it won’t ever happen again so these feelings can just go fuck off. The dinner was just a kind gesture to welcome the new guy, nothing more than that. And quite frankly I’m just perfectly fine without having to go through another one of these “dinners” and then invited to stay over longer to talk over more than one glass of wine.

I hate people like that. They make me feel disgusted. No matter how they made me feel I wasn’t going to ever let another dinner or hang out happen, not while I have a single absolute. While I’m here the only thing I plan on doing is being focused on my job and on myself. One dinner wasn’t going to change anything.

Then again... it wouldn’t hurt to have some people at least. I have come to learn, back at home, that being alone wasn’t all that fun. Of course more alone time meant I can get more done and do more things, don’t have to worry about other people’s drama and don’t need to worry if I’m satisfying the other with my presence or not; but yet… the thought of company didn’t sound bad either.

Of course those thoughts had disappeared as fast as they had came. I don’t need anyone and nobody needs me, simple as that. I don’t need to explain that to anyone. My excuse was good as they come so if someone has a problem than they can take their problem elsewhere but just not around me. My life was perfect without anyone; they only caused unwanted problems.

After Friday though, the weekend I had made sure to keep myself busy. I took the weekend to walk around the city and explored however much I could in just two days. And it did not come to my surprise when finding out that there were a lot of things for me to discover, places that I didn’t even know were a thing until I saw them before my eyes.

As closed up as I was to the people around me, I was very open when it came to exploring.

Discovering new things set some excitement inside me. It’s like sex. The feeling sex gives, that excitement building up inside of you and the pure ecstasy as you reach the end and you wish you can just keep feeling these things even if it’s just a little longer. Yeah that’s pretty much what I feel. I don’t find exploring, well, arousing; I just felt overly excited about it.

Living in a small town all my life, there weren’t too many places to really go that was considered new. Of course as a kid I would get excited over everything from seeing my favorite toy in a toy store to going to the playground with my friends and play knights or play a game of cops and robbers. But as the years went by everything around me grew less and less exciting. Companies gave up on building new places for people to open up business and the most known stores didn’t even bother to stop in our town, let alone didn’t even give a second glance. I would do the same though, that town was practically a dump.

So instead of seeing toys covering the glass window, I had seen things that would fit more into my taste due to my age, even though they still had my eyes practically lighting up from just looking inside. Of course the main couple of places I needed to venture to were the food and clothing store. But being me I got easily distracted and wandered off from where I needed to go.

I didn’t have too much money though, so the temptation of buying certain and unnecessary things had to wait until another time.

I was not surprised though when the world had seemed to throw whatever person it could in my path whether they’re nice or plain out rude. It was hard enough on the first week of my job that I wanted to be a smartass to the employees, so dealing with more snobby people just added the cherry on top to my weekend. Whenever I was in some person’s line of sight they didn’t move and no way in hell did I want to be the “nice guy” and pull that shit and move for them when they can plainly see me. But they still wouldn’t, it was like a little game of chicken and just had to see who would chicken out and move to the side. But that man was staring me dead on and I considered that a competition without even a single word spoken between us.

Unfortunately though, I had to be the man of the two and move to the side before we had unwanted touching. Oh and that man better be lucky I never see him again or he will be in real shit if we cross paths ever again. I got my eyes on him.

“Mr. Ackerman did you hear what I said?” I snap out of my thoughts and look up and over to the petite woman standing in front of me; well she still was a bit taller than me. I had completely forgotten that I was in the presence of another person, let alone at work.

“Yeah I heard you the first time around, can I go now?”

She definitely wasn’t pleased with my choice of words, her big brown eyes slowly narrowing in discomfort before nodding her head and hands over a slip of paper along with the business credit card. Erwin wasn’t around yet so unfortunately my job for the time being was to still run out and grab coffee for whoever couldn’t afford to grab it themselves otherwise they would’ve been late to work or miss a meeting; stuck ups in my opinion. It only takes a minute or two to for coffee to be made.

“Try not to be late like last time; we can’t afford another meeting to be interrupted.”

I take the paper and card from her and then shoves them into the back of my pants, “maybe they should ask for their coffees earlier and not at the last minute.” I could already point out those kinds of people just from only a week of working here.

She went to go speak up, probably about choice of my words once again, but I didn’t give her a chance and turned right around and headed right for the front doors, giving a small wave of the hand to the woman with a: “don’t worry miss, I’ll get them back before then” and then pushed the doors open and walked right out.

The unfortunate part of not having a car was the walking back to the office part. Leaving me to walk back with two cup holders in hand filled with four sets of coffee each in hopes no one bumps into me on the way. I mean quite frankly I can’t trust myself with driving either, not on these streets at least. So really, the only good part of having to walk is that I don’t need to worry about traffic becoming a problem.

But coming to think of it, why would I buy a car? I mean it is very convenient when it comes to things like when it’s raining or get somewhere that’s a pretty good distance away, but things like traffic or the amount of repairs needed and even how expensive they can get just adds problems that I don’t need to have in my life. And the more I thought about all the pros and cons of driving a car, the cons seemed to outweigh the pros of owning one.

Walking is completely fine but after a while it does get tiring of having to literally walk everywhere. Bus and taxis are available so that is the upside, but those are beyond gross. I don’t even want to get started on trains. Bicycles sound pleasant, better than having to pay people to drive me whenever I need to go. The only thing finding a place to put it without worrying it’ll get stolen; but then again, I don’t really think I need to worry too much about that as much as I would if I was back at home.

As great as having one sounds, a bike doesn’t really peak my interest. I don’t think riding up on a bicycle to my job sounds like a great idea; can only imagine all comments given to me.

A sigh leaves past my lips as ideas seemed to run through my mind like havoc. At this rate walking was the best bet.

And as someone high above was trying to help me, the sound of a roaring engine started to grow louder and louder behind me; not even a minute goes by before the owner of this said sound zooms right by and down the road. With the speed it was going, and the roaring engine bounces off the walls of the surrounding buildings, it was definitely asking for attention from any passerby’s. And it got what it wanted.

When I turned my head to look at the road, my eyes caught the sight of it just as it was about to make a turn at the end of the road. And I swear in that moment it was an answer to all my running thoughts.

A motorcycle.

Now I’m no expert on that kind of mode of transportation but just the sight of it lit up something inside me. It wanted to draw me closer to it, wanting to feel the vibrations from the engine coursing through my body. I wanted to know what it felt like to sit on one, to know how it felt to hold the handles; having complete control over something like that sounded like heaven to me.

That was it; I was going to get a motorcycle. Just the thought alone was already making me excited. It is dangerous yes, but where’s the fun in playing things safe?

Unfortunately I had to snap out of my daze once a door was suddenly in my line of sight. More like someone almost slammed the door in my face. I halted in my tracks almost immediately and leaned back just a bit just so the door didn’t touch even an inch of me, a glare growing right towards the person that had not seemed to even notice I was there. I know I wasn’t exactly paying attention but at least when I open a door I’m always cautious so I give the person on the other side to notice that I’m coming in or going out- wait no. I don’t remember ever caring about something like that. This had to have been karma. But that didn’t matter, he almost hit me with a door and I’m not happy about that.

I grab the handle of the door, as this is the place I need to be, and mutter curses under my breath that were directed to the man before walking into the small shop.

Once I walked in though, the sudden smell of coffee hit my nose and the warmth welcomed my entire body almost immediately. Unlike the other people that are sitting in here, coffee isn’t exactly my first choice of drink. To me, at least, no amount of sugar or creamer will make it taste any less bitter than when there’s nothing in it. But the smell is what I’ll gladly welcome.

I walk up to the counter, luckily having no one in front of me and make me wait for God knows how long, and the woman behind the counter welcomes me with a kind smile while her eyes travelled very obviously up and down however much she can see of me before looking directly into my eyes, “good morning, what can I get you?”

I didn’t even give the order out loud and instead reached behind and pulled the card and slip of paper out of my pocket and then held out the paper to her, “I won’t bore you with having to listen to eight orders so there you go.”

A small laugh left past her lips as she took the paper, “thank you, helps me a lot.” I give her a small nod as a response as she shifted her gaze down to the register to put in the order, her eyes flickering back and forth between the paper and the screen. And luckily she didn’t take long time with putting them in before speaking up, “alright, now that will be $34.28… and do you want the paper back?”

I hold out the card for her to take and shake my head, “you can-” I stop myself and then suddenly realize that I would probably it need to order the same drinks again in the future, so I don’t have to listen to that woman nag at me again. And so in exchange for handing the card I take the paper out of her hold, “never mind, thank you.”

She gives a soft smile, obviously choosing not to say anything more as she swipes the card to finish the payment and then hands it right over with the receipt wrapped around it.

While stuffing it back into my pocket, I walk over to the counter where the drinks will be sitting, deciding best to not get relaxed when I’ll just have to get right back up and leave. I lean right against the wall with my arms folded over my chest, my gaze trailing over the few people sitting around in the shop.

The two sitting at the window weren’t all that exciting to just stare at as had seemed to be in school due to the bags hung over the back of the chairs, both partially opened, and a couple of textbooks lying out in front of them. I know I can’t be exactly older than them as this is around the time I would be in school too, but just even the thought of school was sending shivers down my spine.

The other person sitting in here was an older looking man that was wearing a rather sharp suit, a Bluetooth in his ear, obviously speaking to whoever was talking through that earpiece, and has a laptop situated on the table in front of him that, even from this distance it was very noticeable, there were multiple windows pulled up. From the tone of his irritated voice to the obvious grey hairs sticking out in his slicked back black hair, it was obvious that this man was stressed with his job.

Just the thought disgusted me to no end. How could someone to that to themselves? It’s basically asking for an early grave, hell he probably has it dug up already.

I would understand if someone picked out something like a simple office job just to bring in an income into the home, but if he really wanted this I would never understand his reasoning. Being stuck sitting around in front of a computer sounded like absolute hell to me. I mean no offense, but where is the fun in that? The only exciting thing would be some stupid office party over some holiday.

I sigh under my breath, the thought just annoying me. I mean my job wasn’t exactly all too perfect at the moment but doesn’t mean I hate it. I haven’t got a true taste of my job yet to really tell if I liked it or not. Still having no idea when this Erwin Smith is coming back, it lets my mind wander to how it would be working for him. None of the outcomes seemed all too bad when I thought about it hard enough. The only problem I would really have is to just meet his expectations. Then again everyone working must always meet the boss’s expectations or they just don’t deem fit for the position. So the guy situated on the chair some ways away from me is just basically in a similar position, just his tone of voice sounded like a this job was pain the ass.

He looked and sounded like a pain in the ass.

“Sir here is your order.” The sudden sound of the woman’s voice from earlier came into hearing, ripping me from my thoughts. I turned my gaze over to her as she slid both sets of cup holders towards me, being obviously careful with not pushing them too fast otherwise there would an unnecessary mess.

I stand up straight and fix my clothes a bit and take the couple steps over to the counter and give her a nod as a way to silently thank her. And I swear at one glance to her she was sporting a shy smile as she was pushing a strand of her ginger-colored locks out of her face. Why doesn’t she just put her hair up if it just gets in the way? Isn’t that sanitary to keep their hair up while working?

But in the end it doesn’t really matter to me as I picked up the two things of coffee from the counter, carefully holding them in my hands so they don’t tilt and fall out of my hold, thankful that the cup holders aren’t cardboard. Without another glance to the girl behind the counter, I head over to the door while I tried to be careful with my footing. I cannot afford for these to spill at any point between here and to the people who ordered these.

I didn’t even tear my gaze away from the cups as the small part of me is scared that these would drop. It isn’t scary or anything but it’s just knowing the fact that these are steaming hot and if they spilled on me sounds like motivation enough to make the extra care for not spilling these more important. And I was more than determined to make sure nothing happens to the drinks and me.

That should be easy.

“Shit!”

That one sliver of hope that I had hung onto, the one I thought would be easy enough to hold, slipped out of my grasp all too easily. It was the moment where I should’ve been looking, where I should’ve been paying more attention to my surroundings than to the drinks in my hands.

In that moment, where the hope slipped away, was when I felt weight of a body all too quickly pushed into me from the side, the little thing called balance ceased to exist in that moment as I stumbled in and out of place while trying to keep the drinks upright. But unfortunately that failed when all of a sudden the weight of all the drinks in both hands had disappeared and the instant feeling of slipping was coming all too quickly when trying to gain my balance. Thankfully I was able to stop myself from falling onto the hard ground, but the horror and irritation had to be plainly obvious to anyone around me who were smart enough to not get up and help. In that moment my eyes were staring daggers at the ground, staring right down at the mess. A mess that was once a bunch of steaming filled cups of coffee.

I was so careful; I made sure to be careful. I was always careful when I needed to be but here I was, staring down at a mess that had just been created; my reflection almost noticeable through the puddle below me.

“Oh my God I’m so, so sorry!” A string of apologizes slipped from the person behind me, the voice coated with guilt. But that person had it coming to them if they thought a hundred fucking apologizes would fix what just happened. I clench my fists, my breathing growing rigid as the person continued to spit out words like, “let me help clean this up” to “did any get onto you” and in that moment I realized that I’ve never wanted to punch somebody square in the face to just shut them up until now.

But a more civilized side of me was telling me to not make a scene and just let this person help.

Well only time will tell. If this guy winds up acting like a douche than I will consider punching him in the face- actually, no. This fucker caused this mess and now he will literally pay for it. Pay for it with his fucking nose.

I spun right around on my feet while clenching my fist tighter, now fully preparing to hit the person, a dark glare growing darker; a glare that was ready to be aimed right at him, the person that is going to be the reason I run late to work now.

“Listen here you fuc-” I immediately cut myself off when I finally did turn around, my gaze shifting up to the face that I had planned on punching just moments ago, and the glare I was sporting suddenly disappeared once my eyes met with who was behind me.

No. This must be some fucking sick joke.

Those same two colored eyes that had been stuck in my head since the first time I saw them, the mess of brown hair sitting on top of his head, and to every feature on his face that matched all too perfectly together. All of them told me just one thing:

It was _that_ little shit.

The one who made me feel like an absolute idiot.. The one who dared to lay his hands on something that belonged to me.

I couldn’t tell if what I was feeling was anger or something along the lines of being surprised, but more than anything I sure as hell did not expect to see him out of all people. Quite frankly I only truly know two people, but I would definitely not expect to run into them around here. But why him? Why did it have to be this kid and not the man in the nice suit?

I wanted to punch the person that bumped into me but I can’t even bring myself to say anything to him.

He obviously seemed to be in the state that I’m in as well because once we both looked at each other, he feel completely silent. No more apologizes oozed out of his mouth like it was the only thing he could say, but yet only the look of guilt stayed on his expression.

It’d be too cheesy to say that time had stopped in that moment, but how else can I describe this? Ever since I met him, not once did the thought cross my mind that I would ever see him again; and obviously from the looks of it the kid didn’t expect to be in this situation either.

“You’re the… cigarette guy, right?”

Oh that’s real nice now I got a fucking nickname.

I roll my eyes and forcefully tear my gaze away from him, looking for anything that could possibly help me clean up the mess that’s now behind me, “so what do you want; a cookie for guessing correctly?”

Just like the first time I met this kid, he didn’t seem at all troubled by my choice of words when he laughed under his breath. I can’t even begin to explain how annoying this is and I don’t even see anything that could possibly clean this up. How was this kid going to help me anyways? Drop and roll so he becomes the mop? You know what, that doesn’t sound all too bad now.

“No, no I don’t, I’m just surprised to see you here.”

“Welcome to the club kid now back off before I really will punch you in the face.”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong… exactly.” His once light tone turned into one of fear.

I scoffed, “you sure as hell did, I’m going to be late to work now because you decided to be a clumsy little shit and knock into me.”

And with those words, guilt was written all over his face as he lowered his gaze, the obvious shift in both his position and mood. He has it coming to him if he thinks I’m going to feel sorry for what I said. I don’t care who he is, he still cost me time and now I’m not going to hear the end of it when I get back to work. But all the while, while he and I just stood there in the awkward silence, I saw from the corner of my eyes that the girl from behind the counter had come around with a mop and started to clean up the mess.

I sigh under my breath when the kid didn’t say another word, and turned around on my heel and pick up the cups on the ground after deciding that this needed to be done quicker so I can get her to do another round of drinks for me; and hopefully that round doesn’t spill again. As I stand back up straight, piling the cups into each other to make it easier to hold and dump into the trash, I suddenly felt a hand grasp onto my forearm. It wasn’t a tight hold, so if I wanted to pull my arm away I could just do so. But I didn’t.

Having a big hunch that the hand belonged to the kid, I turn my head over my shoulder to look at him, eyes boring into the top of his head since he had officially chosen not to look up, “what do you want?”

He didn’t say anything though, shifting in his spot once again. I roll my eyes and tear my arm out of his grasp and look away from him, “listen kid, if you got nothing better to do then you can just-”

“Let me buy the drinks for you.”

I wanted to go at him for even interrupting me, but no words came out of my mouth; lips parting but only to shut again. Why would he want to buy eight cups of coffee when not even one of them was going to him? He shouldn’t care about the drinks or I anymore and should just walk away and forget this ever happened just like I’m going to do. But I can’t even begin to process why he would want to help a stranger; especially me.

I slowly turn my whole body around to face him, his head now lifted up and his two toned eyes staring right at me; his eyes expressing some sort of confidence. Well anyone in his position is going to need to have some sort of confidence otherwise they seriously have no idea how much worse this situation can get. His eyes weren’t written with guilt anymore; in fact he looked like he wasn’t even feeling guilty in the slightest just moments ago.

“Why do you want to buy the drinks? I can pay for it, it’s no big deal.”

“No I really insist, let me pay for them. It will make me feel much better.”

If words could speak actions then just from those words it sounded like he was on his knees and begging for forgiveness; now wouldn’t that be a sight to see.

“Fine…” I let out a sigh and reach into my back pocket and pull out the slip of paper then held it out for him to take, “try not to take too long I’m on a time crunch thanks to you.”

The kid let out a small laugh, sounding more like a breath of relief, and takes the slip, “of course! I’m on it.” And without another word he turns around and walks over to the counter. He seemed to be a bit too excited over this; I would hate to have to pay from someone else’s coffee, let alone anything that doesn’t have to do with me.

While waiting for the order to be done, again, I make my way over to the trash bin and dump the stack of cups into it. An unpleasant smell came up from the trash and I immediately felt a shiver go up my back. I give the absolute respect to people who can sit by this and not have a problem with the smell. Maybe because I was close to it so that’s why I smelled pretty much everything in there, but I wouldn’t want any sort of trash near me. I would rather die than to ever let happen.

I walk away from the dreadful stench and go back over to the counter to wait for the drinks, thankful to see the girl working on the drinks now. Which comes to mind, why is she the only one working? The reason behind it doesn’t affect me, but I’ve noticed how every time I come here she is the only one working.

“So when I said that I would pay for all that, I didn’t expect it to come out to be that much.”

The sound of his voice was enough to make me snap my head over to look in his direction. Jumping would’ve been too obvious that I was in fact startled by his voice. I roll my eyes though, brushing off the fact that I was scared for a moment there, and look away and over to the girl, “that’s why I said I would just pay for it again.”

“Well… that wouldn’t be fair, right? You already had to pay for it so I thought I would just make up for bumping into you by buying the next round, along with my drink of course.”

I turned my head once again to look over at the kid and frown, “so you’re telling me you paid for nine drinks?”

He in turn looked over to me and a sheepish smile grows on his face, “well, yeah. Might as well get something for myself right?” I swear this guy is going to make me lose it. Who in the hell buys that many fucking drinks for someone else and then act like it’s no big deal?

“You’re fucking crazy.”

“If me doing a nice gesture makes me crazy then might as well call me insane.” The corner of his lips rose a bit before turning his head away, picking up a cup that obviously had to have been his. And even though the other cups were starting to fill up the empty cup holders, my eyes just couldn’t tear away from him.

Like the first time we met.

I swear I just hate this kid more and more, why the hell does he have to be like this?

I look away with a growl under my breath and reach over to the one filled cup holder and pick up, having a good grip on it now so the events of earlier don’t happen again. I mean I’m glad that it didn’t spill on me but maybe next time around I won’t be so lucky and have it wind up on me.

As the last cup was placed in a secure hold I went to pick up the other group of cups but my hand was just immediately swatted away, my head snapping over to the person who had done that; a glare very well evident as it landed on the boy right next to me.

“What the fuck was that for?”

“Do you really think I’m going to let you carry both again?”

Who does this kid think he is? Like hell I need help from anyone, let alone him, “I can carry them fine just on my own-”

“Please. I really insist” his eyes staring right into mine, a pleading look written all over his face as if he would die if I said no, “let me help you.”

I swear I feel like I’m dealing with another Isabel. That girl can literally get whatever she wants with just a look and that’s exactly what this kid is doing right now to me. He wants to get his way; he thinks everything will be solved if he helps me out. Yeah he can help, over my dead body.

“Whatever, just take it and let’s go. I don’t have all day.”

And with that response his face immediately lights up, picking up the cup holder and turns around and makes his way to the door. He was definitely taking my time crunch seriously from how fast he was going; not that I’m complaining, the faster he is the better for me.

I shake my head with a small sigh under my breath and then take a glance over to the girl and then down to her name tag for a moment before looking back up to meet her obvious stare and nod slightly to her out of respect.

“Thank you Petra” I mumble under my breath, but loud enough for her to hear me and then walk away from the counter and over to the door, and I swore just before I looked away from her I could see her tuck her hair behind her ear, like she had done so earlier, and her gaze fell down to the ground as if she had found something interesting down there.

But I didn’t care to even give another glance or thought about it and instead headed right for the door where the boy waited for me; a bright smile creeping up his face and right there did I start to regret my choice in letting him help.


	5. Ordinary

_“I don’t want smooth sailing; I want a rainstorm. ‘Ordinary’ is something we should all be running from.”_

_-S.R.W_

_**-Levi-** _

“So what’s with you buying eight cups of coffee? Need that much to get through the day?”

After having left the coffee shop neither of us had said a word to the other, well my reasoning being that I didn’t want to converse with this kid when all he was doing was giving me unwanted help. And he had been good about keeping his mouth shut for the most part, the only times a noise came from him was his footsteps or his unusually loud breathing; well maybe only sounding loud because of how close he had to come several times to get out of someone’s way.

So hearing him finally speak up in our own silence sent an annoyed mood through me as I dared to even take a glance over at him, “do I look like someone that is desperate enough to drink this much coffee?”

A small smile could be seen from the angle I was looking from and a small shrug followed suit, “well I don’t know you, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

I don’t know if whether or not that was supposed to be taken into offense because what the hell does he take me for? I don’t care who it is, no one will convince me that coffee is the best drink ever. The fact he would not be surprised if these cups of coffee were for me was enough to make me want to blow out at him for even assuming that I would like it. If it were tea then that would be a whole other story.

But it wasn’t tea so he had every right to just go shove his words up his ass.

I was about to speak up, ready to teach him a lesson, to not just assume that the coffee was for me, but before I could say anything he spoke up again, “listen, don’t take it offensive. Like I said I don’t know you so if they aren’t yours then they aren’t.”

I stare at him, even after he had spoken those words, before forcefully tearing my gaze away from him; eyes glaring at anything else other than him. I don’t think I could take staring at him for a moment longer without feeling the need to punch him in the face.

“Whatever, they aren’t for me anyways. I hate coffee and never will like it.”

A stifle of laughter came from the boy and at that moment it took every ounce of me to not hit him, but luck was on his side because I’m trying to be careful right now. What was so funny about that anyways? I don’t like coffee. Is it funny because he doesn’t believe me?

I snap my head over to look in his direction and my glare was now set on him, “what the hell is so funny about me not liking coffee?”

He waves a hand over in my direction and looks to me, his head lowered a bit to properly get eye to eye with me. I swear he has no idea how hard he was making it to just not punch him square in the face and I absolutely hate that I can’t. It’s becoming way too tempting at this rate. “Don’t need to get all worked up believe me, I respect it. You just come off as someone who likes coffee.”

“Oh so you just wound up assuming after saying that you don’t know me.”

“I’m just saying you look like a coffee person-”

“That is assuming; so you are proving my point.”

“Are you always so grumpy?”

I open my mouth and then close it, slowly turning my gaze away from him. I wasn’t sure how to feel about what he had just said. I don’t take myself for being grumpy but just being overly honest about things; well really, just blunt. I should be angry about him saying that, but would that just further prove his point that I am grumpy? But how can I not, he’s the one who decided to be an annoying little shit and make things more complicated for me. And I know my silence is probably making him feel smug about it, hell he probably looks all smug. If he did then I surely will make sure that it comes right off of his pretty little face.

I growl under my breath in pure confusion, he was just making this hard for me. I don’t want to prove his point but I want to set him straight so bad. Who in the hell just talks to a stranger like that? I thought he was a little goodie-two-shoe and pays for other people’s drinks and helps carry them like a nice person, not asking questions like that, if that is even a question and not just another assumption.

“Are you always a little shit? Because you sure as hell tend to act like one” I dare to take a look over to him to see if that caught him off guard, and to my luck it did. His eyes bugged out and then opens his mouth then slowly closes it, the gears in his head obviously trying to function properly. That’s what he gets for making that comment.

I look away with a smirk on my face, feeling rather satisfied that I did that to him; I feel like I could just puff out my chest and stick my nose up in the air all confidently from doing that. Not all too much to be proud of but this kid has constantly caught me off guard and so it just felt all too satisfying to pay back.

But I quickly got off my high horse when he suddenly spoke up again with saying: “I think Petra likes you.” Now him asking if I was always grumpy wasn’t already enough, he had to go up and say shit like that to catch me off guard more.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the girl behind the counter at the coffee shop. Petra is her name.”

“No I know who this Petra is but where is the “her liking me” coming from?”

“Well…” I look over to him and watched as he shrugged his shoulders, “I mean she seems to like you, she was doing a whole lot of blushing and smiling, she didn’t even let me pay and insisted it was on the house.”

I furrow my brows in the utmost confusion and look away, trying to search for anything that could possibly help me figure out what the hell this kid is talking about. We went from about him making assumptions about me to now about some girl at a coffee shop liking me. I swear this kid was confusing.

“It’s the hormones. Girls at a young age just don’t know how to control themselves and want to throw themselves at any guy who walks into their life.”

A burst of laughter erupted from him and from the corner of my eye I noticed how he didn’t seem to be there anymore which now made me stop in my tracks with a sigh. I was going to be even later if he decided to take his time to just laugh.

I turn around and look right at him who was hugging his stomach and doing his best to stay still so the cups didn’t spill from all the movements his body was too tempted to make. But in my opinion he was just being dramatic about this, there was nothing funny to what I just said; I was being completely serious. I have never seen a woman who didn’t get all shy and sweet, hell that woman probably only was acting like that because it’s her job to do so and not because she likes me.

This kid is crazy if he thinks someone like that is into me. I’m so closed off from other people to the point I would do flips if someone told me that they liked me in that way. So at this point I just think he was trying to start a conversation even if it was over complete bullshit.

He eventually evens his breathing and the laughter slowly died down, which I’m thankful for since other people were starting to give us unwanted attention. “Are you done with your little session there or do I need to give you some more time?” I ask, trying to sound as patient as possible, but there was no way in hell I was giving him more time to laugh his ass off over something stupid.

“No, no I’m good now” he waves a hand at me, the one that was hugging his stomach and holding his own cup of coffee, and lets out a big breath, “we can keep going.”

“Are you sure? You sound like you need a minute and I’m willing to wait.” I say sarcastically, if anything I’m just leaving him behind. He right away gives me a look, though; it was if he knew right there and then that no way was I going to wait.

“You won’t wait for me, we both know that.”

“Good then we can go now, right?”

“You have to lead the way then, that’s the only way we can go.”

I roll my eyes and then turn away from him and began to walk once more, praying that this time there will be no interruptions again. I didn’t find it necessary to look over to make sure he was following I just knew he already would be; I have coffee to give people and the drinks will only get colder not hotter.

The rest of the way was actually quiet, much to my liking. I guess he already had his fill for the day and decided to drop the subject altogether, let alone any sort of topic. I only knew he was still following was him saying “excuse me” to a person every now and then. He really must be insane at this rate. I don’t even say that to anyone, if they get bumped into well that is their fault and not mine. If anyone, the person who doesn’t move is the dick. I’m not the kind of guy who says “excuse me” before moving to the side or helping carry coffee. I don’t give my service for free, not when they don’t deserve it.

But it was an exceptional walk for me at least; he gave no more problems or had another laughing fit. And as much as I was glad he didn’t say or do anything again, I was also just as glad that we weren’t somewhere that was quiet and rather surrounded by people, cars, and buildings to save us from succumbing to complete silence.

I eventually came to a stop in my tracks, the more appropriate spot as this was in front of my job now, and now turn to look at him, giving him my attention now. When I looked to him his gaze was not at me but instead up at the building we were now in front of and from just watching in that short period of time, it was obvious he wasn’t the least bit disappointed in where we were.

I clear my throat, which made his head snap in my direction and his eyes now on me, he looks down to the cups of coffee in one hand and then looks to me again, “do you want me to help carry them in?”

“No I got it from here, you can just give it to me now” I say as I reach a hand out to him, giving the cup holder I’ve been carrying full support with my other hand, “I don’t need them to start asking questions.”

His eyebrows furrowed as if he was confused at my sentence, “what kind of questions are you talking about?”

So he was confused.

“I don’t need them asking about why I was with someone and why someone helped me when I had done this perfectly fine on my own before” I explain a bit annoyed that I actually have to tell him this, “and I don’t need them assuming, like a certain someone, and think I was fooling around.”

He slowly nods his head and his head turned to look over to the double door, probably watching the people inside or debating on listening to me. Either way I do not care.

But it took him longer than I wanted it to take, so I reach a foot over and nudge his leg with my foot, making him look back over to me and almost immediately his expression turned into one of guilt and then hands the cup holder over to me, “sorry, I just got distracted.”

“Yeah no shit you did” I growl under my breath and then take the cup holder away from him, now having a secure hold on that too. But once I did I had almost forgotten that I needed to get inside and no way in hell I was not going to be able to open any kind of door without spilling any of these in the process.

But it was obvious my little war to myself was clear to the kid since he didn’t waste another moment to walk over to the doors and wraps his fingers around the handle and pulls it open. He took a step away from the opening, as if I needed more room to get through, and looks to me with a half-smile, “least I could do, right?”

I stare at him, not moving from my spot, then look to the opened door and then back to him. It took a moment for me to start moving, but when I did I definitely didn’t waste time to do so. I walk over to the door with caution, making sure to be extra careful with the cups; my eyes flickering up and down between the cups and the opening to get inside.

Once I step into the building, that vacuum sound from the door being shut didn’t come into hearing; I come to a stop once again and turn my head over to look at the brunet. I didn’t like the fact he was letting the cool air from the inside get exposed with the warmer temperature from the outside, so I went to go speak up and tell, more like demand, him to shut the door and leave, but that was quick to stop once he spoke up.

“Sorry about what I had said earlier, I didn’t mean to make you annoyed or anything, but it was really nice to have met you again…” his voice then slowly trailed off, the obvious hint that he wanted my name. I find it ridiculous because we were never going to see each other again; hell I don’t even want to know his name.

“Levi.”

A smile rose to his lips, almost looking surprised that I told him my name, “Levi…” he says under his breath, but it was loud enough for me to hear it. I went to go say something again, wanting to comment on how creepy that already was coming off as, but he spoke up once again before I could get the chance to; it was like he knew when I was going to talk, “my name is Eren.”

I didn’t say anything after he had told me his name and instead let my eyes travel up and down his body, but mostly letting myself stare at his face. He looks a lot like an Eren now that I think about it once hearing his name; not that it will matter to me any time after this moment.

I look down to his hand now, noticing that it hadn’t moved from the side of his body and my mind was splitting in between being disappointed that he didn’t hold his hand out for me to shake but then thankful that I didn’t have to shake yet another person’s hand; well mostly due to the fact that I was holding two things of coffee at that moment.

And it seemed like his gaze had followed mine when he spoke up, “oh, did you want to shake hands? We can if that’s what you want. I can take one of the cup holders if you really want to” I lift my gaze up to his, immediately welcomed to his two toned eyes looking right at me as if he knew I was going to look at him, “I just assumed you were one of those people who don’t go for that kind of introducing.”

“Well your assumption was correct this time, I don’t like handshakes.” I admitted all too quickly and it made me want to just slap myself for how fast that had come out. He didn’t need to know that.

And Eren seemed a bit surprised by that as well but was quick to smile and act like it didn’t catch him off guard like it had with me, “well it was nice to meet you Levi, I hope to see you again.”

“Likewise kid.”

Like hell that will ever happen again.

**-**

A few days had gone by since I last saw that kid. It was becoming safe to say that I won’t ever see him again. It may be too soon to think like that but, as much as I hate to admit to this, I had been keeping a sharp eye out whenever I was out and about around the city. None of those times I was out did I even see Eren and so I have come to accept the fact that I was never going to see him again.

I have accepted that fact the moment he shut the door and walked away from the building. There was no reason to be sad over something such as not seeing him again, it’s not like we had exchanged numbers and now I check my phone every minute of the day to see if he had tried to get ahold of me by text or call. No, I was pretty certain that I would never see him again. I live in a city and not some small town anymore; I’m not going to just bump into the same person just like that or ever in this case.

But that currently wasn’t my problem, if that even was considered one. As I was getting ready to head to work, just turning my shower on as I do every morning, the sound of thunder rumbled through the house. It was a requirement for me to shower, well to me at least, and going without one is just going to bug me for the rest of the day.

And to top it off, I have to walk to work. I would take the day off or get into a bus or taxi, but none of those were going to be an option; I only started to work just last week and both of the other options just made my breakfast want to come up.

I turn my shower off with an annoyed groan, not wanting to risk anything by showering during a storm, and walk out of the bathroom with the clean clothes that I had all set up for after my shower. I walk to my room now and toss my clothing onto the bed and strip myself from the clothes I had worn to bed and start to dress into my work clothes.

I did the rest of my morning routine at a quick pace, only because I couldn’t shower this time; and then head right out of the place with an umbrella in hand knowing that will be coming in handy at any point between here and work. Once stepping out of the place I could feel the drops of rain hit the top of my head, signaling me that it is going to start to come down harder any minute now. I hope to God that this doesn’t come down hard while I’m walking.

Now with that small fear settled in my guts, and the umbrella unfastened and ready to open up, I head out of the small complex of apartments and head down the sidewalk that was already starting to crowd with people. It hasn’t rained ever since I got here, but the thought that the sidewalk would wind up being crowded with people holding umbrellas over themselves to keep dry and all the umbrellas would just be hitting each other made me grow anxious. The amount of people I’m going to have to deal with if they give the slightest look if my umbrella hits theirs.

And I don’t particularly care about getting wet, after all it is just rain, but I did have to be at work. So any other time or day would’ve been fine by me, but it wasn’t going to work like that. And that means I am not going to get wet no matter the amount of umbrellas in the way, hell I probably will just walk on the road if that was the worst case scenario. Oh, if only being able to float in air like Mary Poppins then that would be great instead of risking getting hit by a car.

Or that car getting hit.

By me.

It was only just drizzling as I headed down the sidewalk, only several people have their umbrellas opened up as if they were going to get soaked. The only upside to their stupidity was that I would get semi-covered by their umbrella if they came close enough to me, or if I got close to them.

To my luck though, it hadn’t gotten any worse than a drizzle, the only reminder that it would storm is the occasional lightning and thunder.

I slowly come to a stop when coming up to a crosswalk, the signal radiating a bright red to stop anyone from walking in front of the fast moving cars. I stood there with several other people, one being obnoxious. This one person obviously didn’t have a care in the world if they were speaking louder than all the cars combined. If I could I would literally rip the earpiece out of their ear so they could shut up.

But just as fast as that feeling of annoyance came, it had disappeared the moment I realized that I’m probably going to be asked to go out a grab the coffees. It wasn’t so bad the past few days; I haven’t had to run out to the coffee place after that incident. I was thankful to not have given that responsibility, but then again maybe that’s because they could have sent someone else other than me. I did get reminded that I was a bit late, even though it was like a minute or so, but that wouldn’t be enough to replace someone… right?

Not like it really mattered to me, it wasn’t my job to get their drinks when they can just do that themselves, but the thought of walking in and right away confronted by one of them to grab the drinks while they can very well see that it is pouring down right behind me. If anything I would make them go out if they even tried to make me.

I let out a heavy sigh and turn my gaze around, trying to occupy my thoughts with something somewhat positive right now. I can’t be walking into work with a bad mood over coffee and the asshole right next to me; or the fact that this light has not changed yet. Just because my boss wasn’t here yet didn’t mean I should be late for work.

I let my eyes wander to the people walking around, combined with people who were looking down at their phone, people who had an umbrella over their head while rushing down the sidewalk, and people who held onto their children’s hands as they rushed around others. There wasn’t too much to watch really, it was like another day in the city right now, well a rainy day really. The only entertaining part about this was the fact that the adults were being dragged by their own children and trying to keep them quiet whenever they shouted. As much as I wasn’t fond of kids, since they are the definition of a mess, it was funny to watch how their own parents basically succumb to their needs so they don’t throw a fit.

Maybe I should start doing that.

After finding anything else not deemed entertaining, and not wanting to be considered weird for staring, I turn my head away to fix my gaze on the still red light. But in that moment of turning my head away, the action completely came to a stop once my eyes landed on something strange. It was nothing strange like a flying object in the sky or catching an illegal act in the middle of the street or a store, but to me it was just strange.

Someone was sitting on the ground, the body curled up with their legs in their hold and their face buried in their knees. I wouldn’t have considered that strange, unless they did it in the middle of the sidewalk; they had obviously decided to stay close to one of the buildings so no one stepped or tripped over them. But the strange part was that someone decided that it would be a good idea to sit outside where most of the germs are, especially on the sidewalk. The thought of all the germs below me made me want to gag.

But that wasn’t the thought that took over but instead it was still the person. They were obviously stupid enough to sit outside just as the weather had decided this time of the day was when it should rain. Did they want to catch a cold or something?

Not my fault if they do though.

But I didn’t understand why I couldn’t stop thinking about them. It could be some homeless person for all I know and I did not want to deal with another stranger. It was their problem if they wound up getting soaking wet; well, unless they had an umbrella, but just from standing at this distance I couldn’t see one by them.

Again, it didn’t matter to me about what happens to that person. Just like with that Eren kid, and like that annoying person next to me, I will never see them again.

I groan under my breath as I tear my gaze away from that person and look over to the light. Thankfully when I did the cars were coming to a halt and the traffic lights turned to a red which in turn made the crosswalk light turn green. I silently thank whoever was nice enough to let me finally get a move on and took my first step onto the road, not letting the person, who was still talking, get in front of me.

Once I took that that step, though, I suddenly felt regret bubbling into my guts. I swear if I just didn’t look over at that person I would not have felt this way. The worst part was, was that I was feeling regret over something such as not helping a stranger.

_“If me doing a nice gesture makes me crazy then might as well call me insane.”_

The voice in the back of my head, more like the voice of that annoying kid, decided to crawl out and remind me of what he said. He sure as hell was insane; ordinary even. If he was here right now he wouldn’t hesitate to go over to this person and help them out, maybe even give this person his umbrella. Like hell I would do such a thing, it wasn’t my problem if they were careless and not bring an umbrella with them. Everyone I had passed by so far had one in hand, so this person was a bigger idiot than the people that already had their umbrella opened.

But that feeling of regret was only bubbling up more the more I thought about not helping them. I have not felt one ounce of guilt before but a stranger was making me feel it for the first time.

I know Eren would probably make me do this if they were here. I know he would end making me so annoyed that I just go get it over with so he could just shut up.

And right now it was starting to feel like he was annoying me due to the amount of regret I’m feeling right now. I sigh loudly, “fucking fantastic” and then turn around, heading away from where I was supposed to go and made my way over to the person.

With a grumble of curses and bumping into several people along the way, I finally make it over to the person on the ground. They didn’t bother to look up and from this view, with the hood of their jacket blocking the top of their head, I couldn’t get a good look at who was below me; not that it mattered to me anyways. I come to a stop in my tracks and now stare down at the person as if I was waiting for something to happen, more like waiting for them to look up. I wasn’t sure if they even knew I was here at this rate.

It wouldn’t be surprising if they didn’t, there was a lot of noise happening around the two of us as this was the middle of rush hour, but part of me wanted them to look up and see me. Why I would want that is beyond me at this rate.

“Oi, are you an idiot or something? It’s going to rain.” I try to cover the fact I was annoyed. With who, I wasn’t so sure. But that thought was quick to go away when realizing what really was irritating me now was the fact that the person below me was not being responsive.

I look around me, watching several people pass by, before looking down to the person. I grit my teeth and lift a foot up and nudge their leg with the tip of my foot. But even when doing that they gave no kind of reaction.

“Are you ignoring me now?”

Still no response.

Now that I think about it but they could be dead, at least I would consider that if it weren’t for the fact I could see their back rising and falling slowly. Well I can definitely be thankful for not being the unfortunate person who finds a dead body on the sidewalk.

But the problem right now was that I am going to run late because I decided to come over and try to get this person off of their ass. I swear if I am late I will personally come back all the way here and kill him.

I look up at the sky, a few drops hitting my face in that moment, and then look down to my umbrella. If I could go fast enough maybe, just maybe, I can make it to the studio on time. I can just leave my umbrella here with him and then I can run off. Of course I will miss this light but I can spare a minute right?

Right?

Without a moment to waste, quite literally too, I open my umbrella and stick the handle in the bend of their arm before standing back up straight. I take some steps back, watching the person to see if they made any sort of response to the umbrella, but of course just like when I spoke to them or nudged their leg, there was no response.

I roll my eyes and turn in my steps and walk away to the crosswalk, the seconds on the signal already ticking down to five. And like my life depended on it I rushed down the crosswalk, making sure not to run into anybody while doing so. I had no time to be stopped or deal with comments about not watching my step.

Fortunately, I was able to make it to the other side just as the number went to zero and the signal turning red once again. I let out a sigh of huge relief once stepping foot on the other side of the road and as I turn my head around to look and see if they moved, the rain suddenly came down harder. Anything remotely two feet in front of me there was nothing that I could see, so any chance of looking for the person on the other side was little to none.

But that wasn’t such a problem right now. Right now my problem was the fact that now I am completely wet and I would’ve been fully prepared for it if I had my umbrella with me, but obviously that is impossible as I had just given it away to a stranger.

A stranger!

I groan loud, loud enough for the person passing by me to give a questioning look. I chose to ignore it and instead focused on what the hell to do while I made my way down the path, grumbling all sorts of curses past my lips. The feeling of wet clothes sticking to my skin, and the strands hair now sticking to my forehead, all had grown annoying when I usually found it comforting. I can’t walk into work like this; no if I do I’ll have all eyes on me. I know how clean that floor is and that only means my shoes will make unnecessary noise.

I rub my face as I saunter to the building, thankfully having not been too far of a walk; well at least felt shorter as my mind was stuck on contemplating about what I should do. There wasn’t much I could do, I can’t miss work right now, not because I’m soaking wet. No one would find that as a reasonable excuse for missing work and would tell me that if I knew it was going to storm I should’ve taken a taxi or bus; that right away would get me into trouble.

I come to a slow stop and look up to the building, a small sigh of defeat leaving past my lips.

Once finally taking in that I had to get inside now, I lower my head and walk to the door. I reach out, the metal handle being cold to the touch, and open the door. Right when I did a cold shiver ran down my entire body once the cool air from the inside had hit me. At this rate I really will get sick.

After taking well needed deep breaths to keep my cool, I step into the building. There is no turning back now, the cameras already caught sight of me and if anybody was smart enough they would check the cameras to make sure I was here. I look round and right away there were eyes on me, the attention that I so desperately didn’t want.

I sigh under my breath and walk through the lobby of the building and over to the elevator, the soles of my shoes making the exact squeaking noise I didn’t want to happen and the droplets falling from the ends of my clothes dropping onto the floor. The only way I was able to hear all the noise was because the moment I walked in, everyone went completely silent.

I come to a stop in front of the elevator, pressing the button to go up. I look over my shoulder, looking over to the woman sitting at the front desk and the few people who had chosen to converse in the lobby, my eyes narrowing in annoyance that none of them had sought best to go back to minding their own business, “take a picture why don’t you, it’ll last longer.”

Once the elevator doors opened, I stepped right in as I tried to ignore the shivering that my body wanted to succumb to. I press the button for my floor and then, just as the doors were closing, I caught the faces of the few people I had spoken to. Least to say they looked more than shocked that I had said something to them as if their staring wasn’t subtle in the slightest. I mean I don’t blame them, I don’t think anyone who works here has come inside soaking wet, but nonetheless it’s rude to stare.

After the doors had shut, I slouched back against the wall with a sigh. It was hard to ignore the feeling of being cold at this rate, now that I was alone and away from the prying eyes. It’s not like those people were rude overall, this place held more of the tolerable people and less stuck up assholes. Of course, not a single soul in here has never not had a moment they annoyed me no matter how nice they are. At that point I would prefer to deal with assholes over people who are always smiling in my face.

And those were the good days.

But I don’t think I can really complain about this place, as much as I complain about the few dicks around here, a lot of the people has welcomed me into this place. It wasn’t too bad, I was just treated to many people coming by to my desk and sparking up a conversation and throwing invitations left and right at me. It was a nice gesture but I don’t think I can sit with seven other people and listen to all of them chattering at once like a bunch of Italians.

The elevator doors opened up to my floor, making me stand up straight and step right out before the doors had a chance to close. Once I stepped in though the sound of rushing footsteps started growing louder and louder, heading right towards me in a definite rush. Before I had the chance to turn my head and look over to the culprit, a pair of arms wrapped around me; the weight of another body growing heavy on me as they feel limp on me now which only made me lose my footing.

“It’s been forever Levi! I missed you!” the last word being sounded out to dramatize the sentence, but that didn’t matter as much as the realization of who belonged to that annoyingly loud voice.

I grew tense at the feeling and the words, pretty sure if they spoke any louder I would’ve lost my hearing. I squirm in their hold and bring my arm up to shove them back after pressing my hand to their chest, “get the hell off of me you idiot.”

“Aww so you miss me too? Little Levi missed me” the person exclaimed with their annoying voice, making me visibly flinch at how loud it was.

I look over to them and immediately glare at them, definitely not having it right now, “could you shut the hell up Hange. I don’t need any more people staring at me right now.”

She rolls her eyes with a wide smile on her stupid face, definitely not giving a care that she was drawing attention to us, and her eyes wandering down to my clothes which subconsciously made me look down as well as if I didn’t know what was wrong.

“Someone got stuck in the rain I see.”

“No shit Sherlock, do you want your prize?”

She gasped, “you’ll give me a prize?!”

I roll my eyes and turn my back to Hange, now walking away from her, “yeah, I didn’t have time to wrap it for you, I hope you don’t mind.”

Just as I said those words, I could hear her footsteps speeding up and reaching behind me, making me sigh in annoyance, “I don’t mind, what did you get for me?”

Without another word from me, I lift my hand up but making sure so that the only thing that was really up was my middle finger. But of course, as per usual, she just exploded into laughter as if that was the funniest thing in the world to her.

One of the many people I have to end up working with is this annoying shit known as Hange Zoe. For a nice person she has become the least tolerable due to how bright she was. Every. Day. Ever since I started working here she practically stuck herself to my hip, leaving me to have no choice but to deal with her sorry self every time I step foot onto this floor.

She worked as the prop and clothes designer for most of the photoshoots Erwin Smith works on. Hange was apparently the best in that field, according to anyone else who works here, so it wasn’t surprising that she wound up working for him. From what I had heard, Erwin had seen her work long before she came here, having seen her work in other people’s photos, he personally hired her to work for him and only him. I haven’t seen her work in person, except for in pictures that littered the walls around the entire building, but if Erwin had hired her personally then that just means her work was beyond acceptable.

Talk about having to meet standards.

I come to a stop once reaching my desk and turn to face Hange, knowing very well that she was still following me, “now do you have anything better to do than just follow me around?”

“Well I do but I-”

“Good so then go do it. I have things to do as well.” I said, not really caring if I just interrupted her. If anyone she was the most used to it but the least bit annoyed about it no matter how much I do it.

“But Levi-”

“No buts, I have work to do and so do you.”

Hange had become silent now, but she didn’t move from her spot in front of me. I was confused because, instead of looking right at me or getting all clingy, she was staring at something behind me. I didn’t even want to look over my shoulder because this could wind up being some sort of little joke she wanted to pull so I’m not prepared for her to throw herself at me once again. Well two can play at this game.

But that sort of confidence didn’t last long when the sound of a deep voice rose behind me, making me slowly turn around in my spot and making me force eyes not to go wide at the slight. It wasn’t something. It was _someone_.

“I must say, you surely don’t lack confidence Mr. Ackerman.”

And it wasn’t just any deep voice. This voice belonged to:

Erwin Smith.


	6. Karma

_“If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; if I can ease one life of the aching, or cool one pain, or help one fainting robin unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.”_

_-Emily Dickinson_

**_-Levi-_ **

No. This can’t be real.

I cannot be standing right in front of Erwin Smith right now, not while I’m completely drenched from the rain. The best of the best in this field was standing right in front of me and I was less than considered presentable. It was crazy how fast the confidence I had felt disappeared and now replaced by utter fear and shame. No… the shame and fear were a complete understatement at this rate.

I’m completely mortified.

I was only doing so well the past week and a half was just to impress him. I played on everyone’s good side and made sure to meet his expectations before he showed up so I was deemed fit for this position. But I might as well let that hope of sticking around go down the drain because there was no way he’d want to keep me around now. What kind of professional would keep someone who was stupid enough to walk through the rain?

I am royally fucked.

Goodbye Sina’s Studio and hello McDonald’s.

“What’s wrong? Surprised to see me?” His tone sounding just the same as it was when he first spoke, but his bright blue eyes holding the amusement his face wouldn’t express. My embarrassment was hilarious to him apparently. Of course it would be. His first impression of me: the idiot who is drenched from the rain and can’t even form a proper sentence.

I seriously suck at first impressions.

Before I could even form a sentence, though, Hange slung an arm over my shoulder, putting all of her weight on me as if I wasn’t smaller than her, “our little shorty is just shy, isn’t that right?” The tone of her voice hinted that she too was also amused by this as well, just not as subtle as Erwin was.

I grumble things that I knew would be inappropriate to say in front of my boss, but I didn’t hesitate to shove Hange off of me while he was still there. Last thing I need is for her to make me look like a fool by falling onto my ass because of her carelessness.

Luckily she did get off of me, though. If she didn’t then I might as well get fired right then and there for harming a co-worker. Then again maybe I could try to get away with it and call it self-defense.

I cross my arms over my chest, forcing my gaze to focus on anyone or anything else than these two; I can’t seem to look at Hange without wanting to give in and just strangle her while I can’t even look at Erwin without feeling like every single one of my nerves just broke. At this rate I am going to mess up if I can’t even look at him. I usually have no problem with this at all; it shouldn’t be so hard to just look at him in the eye.

Maybe it’s hard for me because he’s more built, taller than me even. After all those pictures I had seen of him it was already proven that he’s basically a giant when around others. Of course this has to be my boss, I would’ve preferred Hange because it’s much easier to look at her than him at the moment; even though I have thought out more than one way to kill her while we stood in the awkward silence. And the longer we stood here is just minutes that could’ve been used for something more productive than awkward greetings.

And the longer _I_ stood here the more I seem to forget that I was drenched from the rain. The only reminder that had happened was when I felt a shiver course through my body and making me visibly shake in front of the two. And the worst part was that the sound of Erwin’s voice rang into my ears, making me want to dig a hole up right then and there to just hide in and never come out. This is really the worst I have ever been embarrassed; and there has been plenty of things for me to be embarrassed about.

“Why are you just standing there all wet?”

“Because I don’t have a car, I had to walk here.” _Dumbass_ I thought to myself.

“You surely must’ve had an umbrella then.”

“I… lost it.” Yeah that’s a good excuse because losing it sounded _so_ much better than helping some stranger.

He suddenly went silent, which made me look over to him to make sure that he didn’t walk away. But instead of being met with his back to me, I was faced with him trailing his big blue eyes up and down my body and if that doesn’t make me feel any smaller than I already am then I don’t know what will at this point.

But before I could even utter a word his voice immediately raised into the brief silence, “Hange do we have any spare clothes in the back?”

Humming came from her end as if thinking about how to answer that question before speaking up, “yes we do. Do I get to dress my little Levi up?” She purred out in a tone that I so badly wanted to cringe at. From only knowing Hange for a week and I know that usually means bad news for me.

“I think he is fully capable of dressing himself but help him pick out clothes if you must.”

And all too quickly, before I could intervene, I felt a hand grab ahold of my wrist and twist me around so I was dragged the opposite of where Erwin was. I struggled to get out of her hold, mumbling curses and insults to her along the way but her grip was far too tight for someone like her.

I take that back, I fully believe she could be capable of holding much more strength than she gives off.

After having given up on trying to get out of her hold, and running into things and people more than once due to her carelessness, we make it into the back room Erwin had mentioned earlier. When I imagine a back room, I picture it to be something more so… dirty. But when we had entered the room, Hange flicking the light on, I was welcomed to a fairly clean room. There were some things scattered around, mostly being hangers and possibly dirty clothing, but for the most part I was not disappointed in the slightest by what I saw.

And thankfully, when we had entered, she had let go of my wrist and sauntered off further into the room and right away started rummaging through clothes that were hung up on metal bars bolted into the wall. I rub my wrist with discontentment and step and bit further in just in case someone wanting to come in doesn’t wind up hitting me with the door. I didn’t have to do too much looking anyways since it was a fairly small room, so the thought of this being an older room sparked and the thought only made more sense because whenever I took a step the floor just creaked under my weight.

I swear I better not fall through the floor. Talk about embarrassment if that ever happens.

“Alright! I found something for you but feel free to look for another outfit if these don’t fit” she says, sounding more normal than usual, but making my head turn to look over at her as she pulled out clothes from the ones hanging on the wall. I glance down to what she had picked out and the moment I saw what she had picked out I strangely felt a bunch of relief wash over me.

It’s not that I don’t trust her, well because I really don’t, but the thought of her making me look like a clown absolutely scared me. But the attire was made up of black jeans, almost like the ones I was wearing, and then a navy blue button down to top it off. It was simple but yet it was yelling money at me.

I walk over to her and immediately take them from her hold, “alright four-eyes what about shoes? Or am I dealing with the ones I got?”

“Oh no honey those are right over there” she points to a rack of shoes and I highly doubt any of those are new. The thought of wearing something someone else walked in made me visibly shiver.

“Don’t call me honey and get out of my sight before I shove you out and it won’t be out the door.” I grumble as I walk over to the shoes; giving her an empty threat. I would never do something like that to her but she doesn’t need to know that.

She laughs softly, definitely not fazed by what I had just said, “Okay, okay I’ll get out of your hair. Just holler if you need me.” And she didn’t give me a moment to respond back, even though I didn’t want to, because not even a minute goes by before I heard the door open and then shut behind me.

I let out a sigh and kick off my shoes along with having to bend down just to take my socks off. As much as being rained on felt nice, the aftermath was what sucked the most. Everything on my body stuck to me. So when I took my socks off the shiver of disgust went through my body, but it felt too much like I was just shaking due to feeling cold that I almost couldn’t tell the difference for a moment.

After ridding myself of the wet clothes, I clothed myself with the outfit Hange had picked out and slipping shoes on after having found the right size, or at least close to it. The feeling was rather strange once putting the clothing on. The first thing is that my own socks were wet, and I highly doubt there were socks laying around for me, which meant I had to deal with the uncomfortable feeling of bare feet in possibly someone else’s shoes. The other problem is that, since I was soaking wet, meant I had to go commando in the new clothes. And just the thought of someone knowing makes me prefer falling through this floor.

But… why is Erwin being nice to me and letting me where these clothes? I didn’t really do anything besides embarrass myself in front of him. I mean no complaints because now I most definitely am not going to get sick, but the fact that I’m standing here in new clothes is baffling me. No other boss would have done something like this for an employee; well at least from my experience. Would Hange have given me clothes if Erwin hadn’t told her to? Most likely, but I don’t have any feeling of promise in that thought.

Giving up on trying to figure out why I’m getting this kind of treatment, I folded the sleeves up so they were above my elbows and made my way to the door; making my pace rather swift. Last thing I want is to make Erwin wait any longer than he already has had to.

I open the door up to be welcomed with Hange right in front me… and facing the door. Great so I have to look at her stupid face again. I swear she’s like a leach. An annoying leach at that.

A smile rose to her lips as her eyes travelled up and down, making what Erwin did earlier not as weird as this. If I didn’t know her I would’ve punched her right in the face. No, actually I still would and will.

“Can you stop being creepy for one second?”

Her gaze immediately meets mine and, instead of being embarrassed, she laughed it off, “I’m just admiring, you look like a snack.”

I stare at her, trying my best not to lose my cool in that very moment, trying to process the words she dared to even say out loud, “I’m sorry what?”

“A snack.”

“A snack? I’m not fucking food.”

“Well…” she says in a high pitch that could’ve been enough to make me want to cover my ears, “you know there are people out there who-”

I put a hand up to make her stop what she’s saying and gave her a knowing look, “don’t even finish that. I don’t need to lose my appetite.”

Hange lifted her arms up into the air and gives a more innocent smile than her usual, one that she can easily pull off with others. But knowing her for a week, I know that smile is nothing but trouble, “okay, okay I’ll stop. I don’t want to make my little Levi upset” her tone turns into a playful purr as her hand reached over to me.

In that instant, I grab hold of her wrist before she could even touch me and look up to her with a glare. I really wasn’t having this today. “Don’t call me _your little Levi_ again.”

My hold had been loose enough for her to wiggle her hand out and huffs out a breath as if defeated, but she was far from it just from the smile that rose to her lips once again, “why not? Embarrassed someone will hear it?”

“Yes. And if someone does then I will personally kill you.”

“Well Erwin heard it _and_ I’m not dead yet.”

I shake my head, already having been done with this conversation long before it even started, and turn to walk away from her; she was wasting precious time and I don’t need to have any distractions. But, as luck was rarely ever on my side these days, I heard her footsteps trailing behind me. I would have brushed it off and think it must have been someone else but it didn’t help when every now and then I would feel the toe of someone’s shoe hitting the back of mine, indicating that they were closer than they should be. And the only one who is willing to do that is Hange.

Or a blind person. But I think she’s already almost there considering she needs glasses just to see.

“Can you stop following me?”

“How did you know it was me?”

I turn my head over to look over my shoulder and gave a “don’t-even-go-there” look, and look forward to make sure I don’t run into anyone as I made my way to my desk. And at this rate I wasn’t going to be able to get rid of her so might as well let her follow.

Once making it to my desk, I rounded it so I was standing where my seat was, partially thankful that Erwin hadn’t been here anymore, and sit down with a heavy sigh leaving past my lips, “do you have work to do or something? I highly doubt anything you need to do have to do with me.”

“You don’t know that, maybe you do and I just don’t wanna tell you.” I look up to her, after her little statement, and narrow my eyes at her when noticing that she had decided to get herself comfy. On my desk. And for all I know she could be sitting on some papers that I need to get to and the thought was just becoming more of a curse to my mind than an actual thought.

“You know I much prefer to do my work that hasn’t had someone’s ass on it.”

But unfortunately that didn’t even make her move and instead left me with a cackle. Not a laugh. The sound was making every bone in my body shiver and my face scrunch up in disgust. If she could, she would be like the fucking wicked witch of the west if she just kept laughing like that. “Can you stop being creepy for one second?” It was more of a rhetorical question because in the end she will never stop, not even if her life depended on it.

But as rhetorical as it was she still decided to answer, “I much more prefer being called interesting.”

“That’s perfect for you.” I didn’t even want to argue with her, the fight would just go nowhere with her and I don’t have time to deal with a pointless fight. Especially with her.

“Oh so do I hear a victory for moi?”

Before I could even say anything back at her, and in that case it’s lucky for her since the next thing I was going to say was going to include some suggestive words that weren’t suited for a workplace, because footsteps were coming up from behind me and that was surprisingly enough to shut me up no matter who was walking up to us.

And it didn’t even take too long to figure out who it was once I noticed how Hange had suddenly sat upright, and that can only mean one thing. It was Erwin again.

“Is there a problem over here?” His voice low yet authoritative, making any sort of proper function, I can admit to having, to just combust on the spot.

“Why yes sir! _Our_ little Levi is being a little sourpuss.” Her tone sounding more than playful, but at least to me it was also sounding more like it’s a fact than an opinion. And quite frankly, me being a sourpuss is all her fault.

I glare right up at her though, no matter how true the answer was, and went to go speak up and ready to tell her off but once I opened my mouth nothing came out when a chuckle rose behind me. And with that all functions went goodbye. I turn my head slowly to him, having to tilt my head up to just look up at him properly, and I was welcomed to a sight that could only be described as a bright light. It wasn’t even a wide smile but yet it was enough to light up a room. The sight was disgusting me and I wish he could just give a more stoic expression so it was easier to look at him.

“Well looks like we need to cheer Levi up do we?”

I scoff at that, “might as well give up, I don’t need any cheering up.”

“Oh Levi,” Hange’s annoying voice becoming audible once again, “don’t deny it. Let us help cheer you up for ol’ time sake.” And with that sentence, I could feel her hand on top of my head and the movement only told me that she was making a mess out of my hair.

I didn’t even hesitate to whack her hand away with once swift movement, turning my head to glare at her for a moment before fixing my hair so it was back to the way it was, “I don’t need help, what I need to do is to work.”

And, thankfully, before Hange could speak up, which was as plain as day she was going to, Erwin cleared his throat, the sound instantly making me look up to him again. When I looked up to him this time, his expression had now grown a tad bit more serious but still had the hint of the soft side he was showing not too long ago; but it was more tolerable to look at him so I couldn’t complain.

“That is what I was coming over here for actually. I wanted to speak to you in my office, Levi.”

I nod my head as a response, which seemed enough for him because he had turned around and walked away from both Hange and I. When he did head away, I turn my head up to Hange, who was looking at me already, and nodded her head in Erwin’s general direction, “what are you still doing here? You should get going.”

And for once I did agree with her because the moment she spoke those words I rose up from my seat and walked away from my desk to follow Erwin. I did my best to not rush my movements, but I also knew I had to catch up with him before I lost sight of him. I didn’t think it would be appropriate to ask someone where it was when I should have been close behind already. Not my fault though, he had the long ass legs that can get him about anywhere in just several steps while I had to catch up with my short ones as if my life depended on it.

Luckily, I made it just in time as he opened the door to his office, following him in once he had stepped foot in. I stood by the door though, instead of walking over to one of the seats in front of his desk, hands clasped behind my back as I watched him get over to his desk and sit down in his seat in what felt like only a few strides. Even as Erwin looked to me, with his big blue eyes, I still chose to stand by the door. From knowing him so far, he already seemed like a pretty nice guy, but didn’t mean he was like that behind closed doors. So being cautious was the best I could do right now instead of making myself at home in his office without permission, which is strange coming from me because I don’t particularly like to listen to anyone.

A soft chuckle left past his lips as his gaze teared away from me to look at something far more important on his desk, “I don’t bite, Levi. You can shut the door and sit down.”

I waited for a moment before I decided, on my own, to shut the door and walk over to his desk, pulling a chair out a bit for the sake of leg room and sit down, noting already that this is a comfy seat. I cross my arms over my chest, eyes boring into his head as his gaze stuck to whatever he was reading, waiting for him to say something else other than that I can sit down. But as I sat there for a little while, his head nor voice rose up to acknowledge my presence.

“Last time I checked, sir, we don’t have all day.”

As I stared at him, I noticed one corner of his lips rose at my words which meant that he very well knew that I was still here, and possibly amused by my words, “quite impatient are we Mr. Ackerman,” he lifts his head up and my gaze met his own, his definitely radiating some sort of warmth that I doubt mine could ever hold, “are you always like that?”

What the hell was that kind of question? I didn’t come in here to be interrogated by him; I came in here to find out what the hell he wanted to talk about. “Yes I am. I don’t like wasting my time.”

Erwin slowly nodded his head and picked the paper, he had been reading, up and set it aside and rests his elbows on the desk, leaning a bit forward as his eyes still were set on me. “I like someone who isn’t patient, sounds like you get things done when needed. Am I right?”

“Yes I do. But what the hell is that supposed to do with me being in here?”

He had went silent, eyes shifting around but yet still looking at me, as if he was processing his next choice of words correctly while scanning my face. I decided to wait this time instead of pushing him to say something, luckily the silence was rather comfortable than an awkward one.

“Because I want to see who I’m working with.”

“But don’t you already know? I gave my resume; someone had to have shown it to you.”

“That doesn’t mean what’s on the paper shows who you really are. Those are thing you’ve done not what you are.”

Now it was my turn to be the one who fell silent. He wasn’t wrong in the slightest; in fact he was beyond correct. I had no points to try and prove him wrong that in fact what was on my resume showed who I was and what I was capable of, but no words wanted to come out in that moment or any moment after that. I hate coming to the point of not being able to say anything because, like right now, I was making a fool of myself in front of my boss. If it was Hange I had made a fool of myself in front of then I’d be fine, she would be the last person I worry about being embarrassed with; surprising because I glare at her whenever she makes the slightest comment that could expose me.

And obviously he caught on that I had no words to say and decided to continue, “I’ve seen your work Levi, and I have to say I’m impressed. I haven’t seen exceptional work from someone in a long time. What do you do with your pictures?”

It did take me some time for me to process his words some more before clearing my throat to speak now, “I do nothing to them, I find something worth to look at and take a picture. I always had my camera with me.”

“So none of them have been done with your phone?”

“No sir, I saved up money to afford a better camera. It took a while but I have had it for some time now. So nothing I have given you have been by a phone, and even if they have been I always made sure to go back to take the same picture.” I explained as simply as I can, hopefully making sense to him, well more like hopefully he believes me. Phones don’t do it justice in my opinion, so there was going to be no way someone like Erwin would ever accept those.

And that thought was proved further when he nodded his head, leaning back in his seat and his arms folded over his chest limply. His expression was still stoic so the idea of trying to figure out what he was thinking was becoming a bad one. I don’t expect anyone to know what I’m thinking so I can’t really expect to know his thoughts when he has the expression I usually carry. At least that’s what I see in the mirror every time I look at myself.

“You know, when you’re working with me, I’m going to do things ten times more different than what you usually do, right?”

His eyes met mine and I could tell just from the look that he truly meant what he had said, but I shake my head, not really getting what he means.

“What kind of things will I be doing?”

“From what I know this is the first time you’ve really ever travelled away from home, so you have to be expecting that you will be travelling more because of this job. And now that you aren’t the only person who works on these kinds of things, people like Hange will be assisting you so it as how you want it, from clothes to design. And there will be people who edit images for you so if something was slightly off then it can be fixed-” and he just went on and on. For someone who I found remotely interesting when it came to this field, he was giving me an earful of nonsense, things I didn’t need to hear in the first place. And unfortunately, the only way to stay on his good side, I needed to stay silent and listen to him until he became satisfied with what he needed to get out. And hopefully I don’t have to listen anymore because at this rate I feel like my ears are going to fall off.

But when I heard him slowly come to a stop with his words, his brows furrowing at me, that was when I realized that I had raised my hand like some schoolboy trying to catch his teacher’s attention. I lowered my hand faster than I really intended to but took that as a time to speak up.

I take a deep breath and shift a bit in my seat to get comfortable, might as well do so if I’m in here any longer than I thought, “listen here, I know what you do is amazing and I respect that, but I do my shit my way. I know I’m working under your rules but I don’t think I should be changing my work. Like you said yourself, they’re exceptional. Work you haven’t seen from anyone in a long time. Why should I stop doing it?”

And my words had seemed to catch Erwin off guard when I watched as his eyes widened, but not enough to look obvious to the passing eyes; even though it’s just us two in here. It was hard to fight back a smirk in that moment, it was like sweet revenge. That’s what he gets for catching me off guard.

But that longing satisfaction didn’t last like I had hoped it would because a chuckle escaped past his lips and all hope of throwing him off any longer went down the drain.

“You sure know how to bite,” he spoke in between his little fits of laughter, if you can even call it fits, “but I expect nonetheless, Hange has been keeping me up to date while I was away and from what she has said you got quite a bit of spunk in you.”

“She- is that why she kept fucking following me?”

“Well, I did say observe and report but has she been following you?”

“Yes!” I realized then I had shouted, catching both Erwin and I off guard for a moment, so I cleared my throat and moved on as if that didn’t happen, “yes she has, it’s like she has a timetable to know where to go and how to find me.”

“Sounds like her” he says softly and then sits up in his seat and lets out a heavy breath as if he had been holding it in for a while now, “but I see how it is, we will try to work on the same path. But remember that I am counting on you to listen to me when necessary, you are still working for me.”

As much as I didn’t want to, I knew that would be the mature thing to do. He is still the boss at the end of the day, no matter how nice he has been to me thus far. I can handle to listen to someone when they have the upper hand, but when I know I need to backfire I will, and right then it was the most appropriate. I wasn’t giving up what I loved because of how someone else does it. I’d rather get fired than allow that to ever happen.

“I understand completely.”

“Good, now I have kept you too long. You can go back to what you were doing.”

And right there I wanted to tell him that I have done absolutely nothing because of everything that has happened ever since I came into the building, but for once I decided to keep the comments to myself and stood up from the chair. I step to the side to push the chair back into its original place before nodding my head to him and turn my back to him and head to the door. But the thought of that in only a matter of time I will have to deal with Hange again; and the thought was just making me want to walk slower, stay in the office even. I needed to get out of here and work though whether I wanted to deal with her or not, I’m just going to have to realize it’s something I just need to get used to if I plan on staying around here.

Once I open the door though, the impending doom of having to see Hange again had to wait when Erwin’s voice came into hearing, “hey Levi?” I turn my head over to look at him with a frown but enough of an answer for Erwin because he just continued speaking without waiting for a verbal response, “I’m counting on you, don’t let me down.”

I wanted to give him a snarky comment, because of course I wasn’t planning on letting him down, but instead I gave him a small nod out of respect, “I won’t let you down.”

A small smile rose to his lips, confirming that my response was what he had wanted to hear, and nods back at me. And in that moment I started to feel… proud. Maybe it was because of the simple nod or the fact that I had been brought in here because of a small test, to see if I would listen to what he has to say, and wound up passing. If it were any other boss I might as well say goodbye to this job, but there was no doubt that Erwin wasn’t like any other boss.

Least to say, I just felt all the more welcomed once meeting him.

And I didn’t want to admit to it, but I was happy. Maybe it was worth giving my umbrella away to that stranger because it did lead me to this very point. I still hate the fact that I have to worry about getting another umbrella since my last one will possibly never be seen again, and that I really have other things I need to worry about, but the more I think about it the more it didn’t matter to me.

I was never one to believe in the “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” bullshit, never saw any sense in it. If people are complete and utter assholes then I do think people deserve to have karma hit them in the face like a truck but I’m one of those people who are complete assholes and I have had nothing bad come and face me to pick a fight. And even if it did I wouldn’t even look twice because that is just life, everyone has to deal with the bad as much as they had to deal with the good. But when it had hit me I realized that maybe something like that was true. Maybe things are meant to come around and bite you in the ass or give you a pat on the back for whatever you do. It was just a simple umbrella; it wasn’t like giving the key to my place and let them get comfy in my home. But Erwin had been nothing but nice to me. And just maybe it’s because he is just overall a nice man because from articles and rumors around the workplace he truly did sound like a good man. But just since he was nice to others doesn’t mean he has to be with me, I was unprofessional both in attire and attitude. It’d give him every right to want to be rude to me.

So for now I will believe that it was karma that had come to pat me on the shoulder and just gave me a break today.

But… the lingering thought of the fact maybe, just maybe, something will come around and truly bite me in the ass one day. If that were the case then I sure as hell have a huge debt to pay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely a day late, since I wanted to get this posted on Erwin's birthday as this chapter includes him, but it's better late than never am I right? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and can't wait to share the next <3


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